Catch Me
by Mr. JRyan
Summary: Ever since Dylan had left to go play hockey for Zurich, Marco hadn’t been the same. Everyone thought he was acting very ‘PreSean Ellie.’ They didn’t know how right they were. Darco, bit of Sparco. Warning, self mutilation.
1. Spinner's Discovery

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Title**: Catch Me

**Pairing:** Mostly Darco, duh. Also some Crellie, Spaige and Jashley.

**Spoilers:** If You Leave. Also Sunglasses At Night, but briefly.

**Setting: **This story is set a couple months after If You Leave. AU from there, and a bit before. Craig never had a coke addiction and is now with Ellie, and Paige and Spinner are back together. Paige lives with Marco and Ellie.

**Rating:** PG-13 / T

**Summary:** Ever since Dylan had left to go play hockey for Zurich, Marco hadn't been the same. Everyone thought he was acting very 'Pre-Sean Ellie.' They didn't know how right they were.

**Author's Note:** I thought up this idea while I was trying to get to sleep the other night. So I decided to share.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Style:** I'm an angst writer. Learn it, live it, love it. xoxo

**Warnings**: Self mutilation (cutting)

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"Marco, you need more fun in your life," Paige said, crossing her arms as Marco sat on the couch in their living room, flipping through a book for one of his college courses. "I mean, really. Since Dylan's left you've been this emo wannabe. You're starting to remind me of Ellie."

"Hey!" Ellie said in protest, looking over at Paige from the front door. "I resent that."

Ignoring the red head, Paige sat down next to Marco, and closed the book in his lap. She also decided to ignore the glare he gave her. "Marco, it's been two months. You need to stop being so depressed. Dylan wouldn't want this for you."

"It hasn't been two months," Marco said softly, staring at the cover of the book.

"What?"

"I said," Marco started, looking back up at Paige. "It hasn't been two months."

Ellie looked over at Paige, who looked confused. The red head just shrugged. "Uh, yeah, Marco. It has."

"No, it hasn't," Marco said more forcefully this time. "It's been two months, one week, five days, eighteen hours and," he checked his watch, "twenty six minutes since Dylan's left."

The two girls stared at Marco for a moment, before Paige shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts that Marco was slowly going crazy, and grinned. "I have an idea. How about we all hang out tonight? Order a pizza, rent a couple movies, and have fun. You need it."

Marco looked skeptical. "Who's 'we'?"

"Well, you know. Me, you, Spinner, Jimmy, Ashley. And I guess Ellie and Craig can join in, too. If they want. You know, the gang. It can be a little 'cheer Marco up because before you know it he's going to be wearing all black and listening to emo music' get together. What do you say?"

God help them, Marco was actually considering it. After a few moments, he nodded, shrugging. "Fine. But let me study in the meantime."

Grinning, Paige sat up from the couch, clasping her hands together. "Deal!" She quickly grabbed her cell phone from her purse and started dialing numbers, obviously intent on getting everyone there.

Why did Marco have a bad feeling about all this?

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"I love this part!" Ellie said, grinning as she pointed to the screen. The gang was in the middle of watching House of Wax. At the moment, Paris' character was running away from the killer. And everyone looked pretty amused at the scene. Everyone except Marco, that was.

"Oh my god, did he just stick that in her foot?" Paige quickly covered her eyes, flinching as she snuggled in closer to Spinner. "That's so gross."

"Hey, it's better than Black Christmas. The killers in that movie like to eat eyeballs," Craig said, grinning. This didn't seem to help Paige. If anything, she seemed even more mortified than she had before.

"I'll be right back," Marco said quietly, getting up from the couch. He didn't want to be hanging out with his friends right now. They were all snuggling up to each other. They were acting like couples. And it just made him miss Dylan more. He wanted his boyfriend back. He wanted to be with the one person who could make him as happy as all his friends were at the moment. He needed Dylan.

"Okay, but hurry. We're not pausing, this is way too good," Ellie said, her eyes glued to the screen.

"Nice way to make the evening all about Marco, Ellie," Paige said, sending a small glare the red head's way. She turned to the young Italian man. "We'll pause it. But if you're not back in five minutes, we're continuing without you."

"Paige, you just want a reason to stop watching," Spinner said, rolling his eyes slightly.

"He just stabbed her foot, Spin," Paige said, giving Spinner one of her infamous 'duh' looks. "Who really wants to see that?"

"Uh, me?" Spinner answered, raising his eyebrows.

Shaking his head, Marco started towards the staircase. When Paige called after him, he turned, shrugging. "I got it. Five minutes," he said, nodding. When Paige seemed satisfied with his answer, Marco made his way up the stairs. As he entered the bathroom, he kicked the door behind him, but didn't seem to notice when it didn't shut all the way. He got his razor out from the medicine cabinet and lifted up his sleeve, before pressing the cool blades to his skin.

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"Can we watch it now?" Spinner asked, getting a little impatient. Why did they have to wait for Marco, anyway? Yeah, sure, their friend had been depressed lately. He got that. That's why they were all hanging out together, for him. But Marco had already seen the movie twice times. With Dylan. How was watching every second of it going to make him feel better about his boyfriend being gone? Exactly. It wasn't.

"No. It's only been four minutes," Paige said, looking over at the staircase from her spot on the couch. "Maybe someone should go check on him."

"Why?" Craig asked, staring at Paige with a confused look. "Afraid he's fallen in the toilet or something? C'mon, he's fine."

"Craig, he's depressed. He misses his boyfriend," Ellie said, giving her own boyfriend a look that said 'don't be such an insensitive jerk.' Craig help up his hands in surrender, smiling innocently.

"Maybe he called Dylan," Spinner said, shrugging. When Paige moved to stand up, he put a hand on her arm, stopping her. "I'll go check on him. You stay here. But don't start the movie without me."

As Spinner made his way up the stairs and down the hallway, he looked around, listening for any sign of where Marco would be. "Marco?" No answer. He opened the boy's door, looking inside the room. No sign of him. And his phone had been tossed on his bed, forgotten. Which meant he wasn't on the phone with Dylan. As Spinner closed the dark haired boy's door, a light caught his eye. The bathroom door was a smidge open. "Marco?" Spinner knocked on the door before pushing it the rest of the way open, and his eyes went wide. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?"

There Marco was, sitting on the closed toilet seat, a razor in his hand. Blood flowed freely from cuts on the inside of his arm, and tears were streaming down Marco's face.

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**Haley**: I know it's short, and I'm sorry. This just seemed like a good place to end it. Now, I know I usually invite characters for my after chapters, but I don't know which ones! So, you know what? You choose for me!

**Marco**: Well, you obviously have to have me. The story's about me!

**Haley**: Yes, of course, it has to have Marco. You pick the others. I need at least one more, two at the most! Anyway, review please. Love ya'll! Kisses!


	2. HockeyBoy and Italiansweetheartxx

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Warnings**: Self mutilation (cutting)

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As Spinner made his way up the stairs and down the hallway, he looked around, listening for any sign of where Marco would be. "Marco?" No answer. He opened the boy's door, looking inside the room. No sign of him. And his phone had been tossed on his bed, forgotten. Which meant he wasn't on the phone with Dylan. As Spinner closed the dark haired boy's door, a light caught his eye. The bathroom door was a smidge open. "Marco?" Spinner knocked on the door before pushing it the rest of the way open, and his eyes went wide. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?"

There Marco was, sitting on the closed toilet seat, a razor in his hand. Blood flowed freely from cuts on the inside of his arm, and tears were streaming down Marco's face.

It only took two strides and Spinner was kneeling down in front of him, taking the razor away from his friend's hand. "I repeat," his words were slower this time, as if he were talking to someone who didn't speak English very well, "what the hell are you doing?"

"I miss him, Spin. I miss him so bad," Marco cried out, putting his face in his hands. "School is so stressful. And my dad still doesn't want to believe that I'm gay. He's still in denial. He won't admit it, but I know he is. And Ma expects me to be this perfect guy and I just can't be that guy anymore. Not without Dylan. I need him, Spin. He makes me happy. He keeps me sane. Without him, I can't deal." He let out a sob. "I want my boyfriend back."

Spinner knelt there, staring at Marco for a second, and looked out the doorway of the bathroom. He suddenly wished that he wasn't the one who had offered to go find Marco and see what was taking him so long. Yeah, he felt bad for Marco. And, yeah, he was pissed that Marco was hurting himself. But he didn't really _do_ the whole 'oh no, someone's crying, I guess I should comfort them' thing. And here Marco was, bawling his eyes out, and all Spinner could think about was how uncomfortable he was at the moment. What was he supposed to do? Hug him? Tell him to stop being such a baby? Offer to call Dylan and tell him to get his ass back to Toronto? What?

"Spin, please give me that back," Marco said, looking down at the razor in his friend's hand. He reached for it, but Spinner pulled his hand back, looking pissed that Marco had even asked for the small thing of doom. "Spinner -"

"No, Marco," Spinner said, staring at his friend like he was insane. "Like hell." Spinner stood up and dropping the razor in the sink. "I get that you miss Dylan, alright? I get that. But resorting to this, hurting yourself? That's not doing anyone any good. How would you feel if Dylan found out about, huh? Because you know what? I'm tempted to call him. I'll take Paige's cell phone, call him, and tell him what his boyfriend has been doing."

"No, Spinner, please!" Marco cried out, fresh tears flowing down his face. Dylan couldn't know about this. Dylan couldn't know that Marco was a loser. That he was weak. If his boyfriend found out, Marco didn't know what he'd do. He'd lose it, probably. Dylan would be ashamed, and he'd be so disappointed. Marco didn't want to have to talk to Dylan one day on the phone and know that his boyfriend thought so lowly of him. Marco was ashamed himself. What was Dylan going to think? "Please, Spin, you can't tell anyone. Please."

Spinner looked at Marco for a second, and then looked down at the razor in the sink. He couldn't just ignore it. He couldn't just pretend that nothing was going on. Looking back at Marco, his gaze fell upon the other boy's arm. On the cuts and the blood and the plain self mutilation. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't Marco. Where was his friend, the one who asked him to pick out an outfit for his first date with Dylan? His friend that had punched Linus square in the nose? His friend that had kissed Craig when he found out that Dylan had been cheating on him? Where had he gone? It was like the moment Dylan left, Marco left with him. And Spinner was sick of it.

"Fine. I won't tell anyone," Spinner said, looked down at the razor once again. When Marco's tears seemed to lighten up a little and he looked a little relieved, Spinner shook his head, and sighed. Picking up the razor he shoved it in Marco's face. "But this? You're never touching this again. Except to shave, of course. I don't think the whole beard look would work for you. But it never touches your arm again. Got that?"

Marco paused for a moment, before nodding and looking down at the ground.

"Promise me, Marco. Promise me that you won't do this again," Spinner said, turning on the water and washing the blood stains off of the razor.

Marco sighed and nodded once again, looking back up at Spinner. "I promise," he said quietly, his eyes showing shame and sadness.

"Good," Spinner said, nodding as he put the razor back in the medicine cabinet. "Then let's get your arm cleaned up and then we can go back down and watch the rest of the movie. I swear, if Jimmy's eaten all the popcorn, I'm gonna kill him."

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"Six letter word for beautiful," Ellie called out as she sat on the couch a few days later, doing a crossword puzzle as Marco made some of his mama's famous pasta in the kitchen. Paige was at work, and Spinner had stopped by that afternoon to check up on Marco. He seemed to be worried about his friend constantly now. Thankfully, his ramblings and interrogation was interrupted by a call from Dylan. Spinner knew better than to keep Marco from those.

"Pretty?" Marco called back, stirring some basil in the mixture. When he heard Ellie let out a resounding 'ah ha!' he knew that he had guessed right. Really, it wasn't that difficult. Then again, Ellie wasn't exactly the type to go around doing crossword puzzles all the time. He had to give the girl a break.

Suddenly, the phone started ringing. Marco set down his wooden spoon and walked over to the phone, picking it up. "Hello?"

_"So, how did your phone call with Dylan go?"_

"Fine, Spinner," Marco said, rolling his eyes as he sighed slightly, shaking his head. "Why do you ask?"

_"Oh, no reason. Did he say anything interesting? Mention anything important?"_

Pause. "Like what?" Panic was increasing within Marco. Spinner said that he wasn't going to tell anyone. He was going to keep to his word, right? He hadn't told Dylan. No, of course he hadn't. He wasn't allowed to. Marco would lose it if he had. He would seriously lose it. "Spinner, did you tell him?"

_"What? No, of course not. I told you I wouldn't, and I don't plan on it. I just told Paige that you were missing him. And she said that she would pass on the message to Dylan, that's all."_

Oh, great. So it had been a pity call. Dylan hadn't wanted to talk to him after all. He was just calling him as a favor to Paige. That's great. It was bad when your best friend had to convince your boyfriend to call you. Marco sighed, shaking his head. "No, he didn't mention that. I have to go, Spin. Bye." Without another word, Marco hung up the phone, placing it back on the receiver. That was just great.

"Who was that?" Ellie called from the living room, seeming to be quite interested in her crossword puzzle all of a sudden.

Marco didn't answer her. Instead he walked back to the pasta sauce, stirring it absentmindedly. His life was going straight to hell.

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"Hey, dude, could I talk to you for a sec?" Spinner asked from the couch, where him and Paige were watching TV, as Marco tried to sneak in the front door and up the stairs.

It had been four days since Dylan's phone call. In that time, Marco's boyfriend hadn't called again, e-mailed him, texted him or even bothered to send him an offline IM saying that he loved him and missed him when Marco wasn't on the computer. Was Marco really that unimportant? Did Dylan think about him that little? He needed to know what to do. Obviously Marco was doing something wrong or else Dylan would've shown some acknowledgement in his direction by now. Right? He would've done _something_. Marco was tired of it. He just needed Dylan. To talk to him for a few minutes, even. That was it. That was all he needed to keep sane.

Marco looked over at Spinner, who was staring at him expectantly. Sighing, he shook his head and rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted. He just wanted to go upstairs and go to bed. School had been killer that day. "Not now, Spin. I'm tired. I just want to sleep." He turned and headed up towards the stairs.

"Wait, it'll only take a sec." Spinner jumped off the couch, causing Paige, who was leaning on him at the time, to fall sideways. She glared at her boyfriend's back, but he didn't seem to notice. As he followed Marco up the stairs, he whispered softly. "How are you, man?"

Oh dear lord. Not this again. Marco was really tired of Spinner treating him like a lost little child. He could take care of himself. Yeah, Spin was worried. He got that. But there was worried and then there was creepy stalker. Spinner was turning into the latter. And it was driving Marco insane. "I'm fine, Spin. I haven't done anything since I made that promise to you. Satisfied? Can I go to bed now?"

Spinner looked quite pleased with Marco's answer and nodded, patting his friend on the back. "Yes, I am. And yes, you can. Just remember to call me or Dylan when things get out of hand, alright?"

"Dylan and I."

"Dude, why does everything have to be about you two? Shesh." Marco didn't have the energy to point out that he was just correcting Spinner's grammar and shook his head as the other boy left him in the middle of the hallway, going back downstairs to watch whatever he was watching with Paige.

Marco made his way into his room and opened up his laptop, signing onto AIM. Almost immediately he received an IM from Dylan. Thank goodness.

**HockeyBoy:** hey, Marco

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Wow, you actually decided to talk to me. I guess Avoid Marco Week is over.

**HockeyBoy:** don't be like that

**Italiansweetheartxx:** You could've called.

**HockeyBoy:** i was busy. i'm sorry

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Too busy to pick up the phone and say 'Hey, Marco. I can't talk long, but I just wanted you to know that I love you and I'm thinking about you'?

**HockeyBoy:** i am thinking about you and i do love you

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Could've fooled me.

**HockeyBoy:** Marco

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Just answer me one thing, Dylan. Are you still my boyfriend?

**HockeyBoy:** yes, of course

**HockeyBoy:** i'll be your boyfriend for as long as you'll have me

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Then, you know what? Start acting like one.

**HockeyBoy:** i love you

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Ugh.

**HockeyBoy:** Marco? -bats eyelashes-

**Italiansweetheartxx:** I love you too, you jerk.

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Now go to bed.

**HockeyBoy:** yes sir

**HockeyBoy:** i'll call you tomorrow

**Italiansweetheartxx:** I won't hold my breath.

**HockeyBoy:** Marco

**Italiansweetheartxx:** Fine. Talk to you tomorrow.

**HockeyBoy:** -BIG SMOOCH-

**Italiansweetheartxx:** -blush- Goodnight, Dylan.

**HockeyBoy:** night, sexy

Sighing, Marco watched as Dylan signed off of AIM, before closing his laptop. He walked over to his bed and laid down, grabbing a picture of him and Dylan at Marco's graduation, the younger of the two holding up his diploma and looking quite pleased with himself. Dylan, on the other hand, was kissing Marco's cheek, his arms around his boyfriend. Paige had taken the picture when Marco's father had been congratulating Ellie. Marco wished he could go back to that time. Back to a time when Dylan was still in Toronto and everything in the world seemed good. He needed it. Badly.

Marco felt a moisture on his cheeks and brought his hand up, just then realizing that he had been crying. Crying over his stupid boyfriend who apparently only thought it was necessary to talk to him every five days. Other than that, Marco could just suffer. Well, yeah, Dylan didn't realize how much Marco was suffering.

After a few minutes, Marco set the picture back down. He lifted up his sleeve and traced the scars on his arm. How he wished that he could reopen them. He hadn't understood why Ellie was cutting herself until Dylan left. It was a way to relieve the pain and make the hurt in his heart go away, if even for just a few moments. He wanted to do it again. But he had made a promise to Spinner. It wasn't like he could just ignore that. Or could he?

Getting up off his bed, Marco crossed his room, opening his door. He was about to go into the bathroom when he heard the ding of his instant messenger, and curiosity won him over. He walked over and opened the laptop, rolling his eyes at the words in front of him.

**HockeyBoy:** i can't sleep

**HockeyBoy:** talk to me

Marco just stared at the text for a moment, before looking back over at his door. He bit his bottom lip before starting to walk away, when another ding reached his ears.

**HockeyBoy:** i know you're there

**HockeyBoy:** you're too curious for your own good

**HockeyBoy:** so stop reading and start typing

**HockeyBoy:** please?

Shaking his head, Marco opened his messenger completely, pressing the sign off button. He didn't want fate telling him that he couldn't do this. If he wanted to do this, then god damnit, that's what he was going to do.

Marco was moving so fast across the hall that it didn't even have time to register in his mind that his cell phone was going off. And that it was the ring tone assigned to Dylan. Closing the bathroom door behind him, he reached into the medicine cabinet, pulling out his razor.

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Ellie rolled her eyes as Marco's phone started going off, pulling here away from her book. She sat on her bed for a moment, waiting for Marco to answer the damned thing. When he didn't, she nearly screamed, but calmed down when it stopped. Smiling slightly, she looked back at her book. Until it started ringing again. Throwing her book down, she threw open her door and knocked on Marco's. "Marco, answer your phone." No response. The phone stopped ringing. And then started up again. Not bothering to try knocking again, Ellie walked in, and found that Marco wasn't in his room. She picked up his phone, noticing the screen said 'call from Dylan.' Marco wouldn't want to miss this. "Hey, Dylan."

_"Hey. Is Marco around?"_

Ellie looked around, a bit confused. Marco could make out Dylan's ring tone from a mile away. Where was he? "Actually, I'm not sure. Hold on." She left the room and walked downstairs, noticing Paige and Spinner sitting down on the couch, watching a movie. "Hey, Spaige, where's Marco?"

The two looked at each other for a moment, before Paige shrugged. "He said he was going to bed."

"I was just in his room. He's not there." Okay, now Ellie was a little worried.

"Maybe he's in the bathroom," Paige said, turning back to the TV.

"Paige, last time he was in the bathroom and Dylan called, he started screaming. At the phone. Telling Dylan not to hang up because he was coming. And the phone was down here." Ellie raising her eyebrows, but Paige didn't seem to really care.

_"Really? I'll have to make sure to remember that for later."_

Ellie grinned despite her growing panic. She looked over at Spinner, who suddenly looked more worried than she did. She didn't think that was possible. He jumped off the couch and ran towards the staircase. When Ellie looked back at Paige, she shrugged, getting off the couch slowly. The two followed Spinner.

As Spinner ran down the hall, he looked over at the bathroom door, noticing the small bit of light coming from underneath it. He quickly tried the knob, and was relieved when he found it unlocked. Unfortunately, what he had been expecting was what he found. Marco cutting himself. Again.

Ellie's eyes went wide, and she dropped the phone. "Marco, no!"

Paige's breathing became irregular, and she quickly leaned against the wall, not wanting to see that. Picking up the phone, she swallowed hard. "Dylan --"

"No, don't tell Dylan! Please!" Marco cried, quickly running past Spinner out of the bathroom. "Paige, please don't tell him."

"Marco, I have to. He has to know."

"No, no, please. Please."

"Then you tell him."

"No!" Marco cried out, falling to his knees. "He can't know. Paige, please. He can't."

_"What can't I know? Paige, what's going on?"_

"Dylan, Marco --"

"Paige, please!"

Paige looked to Spinner for help, who quickly pulled Marco into the bathroom. Paige walked down the hallway and down the stairs, trying to ignore the sobs coming from her best friend.

_"Paige, you guys are scaring me. What's going on? Why is Marco crying? What happened?"_

"Okay, Dylan, before I tell you this, I need to promise not to freak out."

_"Is that even possible?"_

"Good point." Sighing, Paige sat down on the couch, swallowing hard. "Okay, so, a couple weeks after you left, Marco go into some problem. Gambling. He stole money from his dad and broke into Spinner and Jimmy's shop and got himself arrested."

_"What? That doesn't sound like Marco."_

"He was really upset about you leaving. But… that's not it."

_"Oh no. There's more?"_

"We just found… Marco was… Dylan… Oh god, I can't even say it."

_"Paige, tell me."_

"We just found Marco cutting in the bathroom."

_"Cutting what?"_

"Himself." There was a long pause, and Paige swallowed hard, looking over at the staircase. "Dylan?"

_"I'll be home tomorrow. Make sure someone's there to pick me up from the airport."_

Without another word, Dylan hung up. Oh dear. This wasn't going to be good.

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See chapter one after chapter note.


	3. Dylan Comes Home

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note:** If the flight time for Dylan isn't exactly right on, I'm sorry. I did some googling, and it said that a flight from Zurich to Toronto is eight hours. For some reason that doesn't sound right, but I'm going with it. So work with me here.

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"I can't believe you told him," Marco cried out, huddled under his covers upon his bed as tears flowed freely from his face. "Dylan's going to hate me." Just minutes ago, his friends had gotten his arm cleaned up and then helped him into his room so he could get some rest. Paige then had walked in, stating that Dylan was coming back tomorrow. And then Marco had broke down. His boyfriend was going to be so ashamed. He couldn't stand to think about it.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have broken your promise," Spinner said, shrugging. He was leaning in the doorway, looking pissed. He couldn't believe that Marco had started this shit up again. He had trusted him. Believed him. And what did he get for it? A nice stab in the back. Yeah, because that's what everyone dreams of having.

"Spinner!" Paige hit her boyfriend's arm. When he just simply shrugged once again, she sighed and rolled her eyes. Making her way over to Marco's bed, she sat down next to him, rubbing his arm. "Marco, hon, Dylan's not going to hate you. He's just worried about you. That's why he's coming home. Because he loves you and he realizes that you need help. He wants to be the one to provide that for you."

"And that's what he told you?" Marco asked, looking at Paige with a disbelieving expression.

"Well, no, but --"

"Exactly!" Marco said before pulling the covers up over his face, his small body shaking violently with sobs. "My boyfriend's going to yell at me and then dump me like the sorry piece of trash that I am."

"Marco, shut up," Ellie said, crossing her arms. "Just shut up already."

Marco's crying sobbing stopped for a second, and he pulled the covers back down, staring at Ellie. Woah, wait a second. Did she just tell him to shut up? "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Ellie said, shrugging as she raised her eyebrows a bit. "Shut up. No, Dylan's not going to be happy about this. But he's not going to hate you. You know that he loves you, which is the reason _why_ he's not going to be happy. And even if he did hate you, it would be your fault. You're the one cutting. Take the advice from an ex-cutter and stop moping around, preparing for the worst. Dylan's going to come home, tell you how much he loves you, and then demand an explanation. And you're going to have to be ready for that. So stop crying and whining and start thinking of how you're possibly going to explain this. Ms. Suave let me sit there and not talk because I wasn't ready, but Dylan's not going to grant you that. He won't take 'I don't want to talk about it' for an answer. He's your boyfriend. Prepare yourself for having to talk to someone about your problems. Because it's not easy. Go to sleep and we'll wake you up when Dylan gets here."

Marco just stared at Ellie for a few minutes, and then looked over at Paige slowly, who nodded in agreement. "Um… Okay," he said softly, swallowing hard. Well, that was slightly awkward. Great, now on top of worrying about Dylan hating him, Ellie was also going off the deep end and hating him, too. He snuggled in his bed further, pulling his covers tightly around himself. This was going to be a long first couple of days.

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"Do yourself and everyone else a favor and don't talk to Mom and Dad for the rest of the day," Dylan said, hauling his luggage in the front door and Paige walked in after him, holding one of his suitcases. When she gave him a confused look, he forced a small smile, looking a bit guilty. "The flight cost about four thousand."

Rolling her eyes, Paige dropped the suitcase, and looked around the house. "Well, they'll just have to deal. I think Marco's issues are a little more important than their bank account."

"Agreed." Dylan looked around the house, and then over at the stairs, briefly. "Where is he, anyway?"

"He has a class right now," Ellie said, walking down the stairs, a course book in her hands. "He should be home in about," she looked over at the clock, checking the time, "twenty six minutes."

"Wow, hon, you sure do keep track of his schedule in a totally non-stalker way," Paige said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Dylan, are you hungry? We could order pizza. I could call Marco and tell him to stop by the store so we could whip you up something. Or--"

"No, Paige, I'm good," Dylan said, stacking his suitcases next to the wall. He'd deal with them later. "I just spent two hours at an airport, eight hours on a plane, and then another half hour at an airport because you forgot to pick me up. I'm going to go take a shower."

"Alright," Paige said, shrugging, walking over to the couch. "You do that, I'm going to watch Gossip Girl."

"Wait, Dylan," Ellie said, walking over to the staircase quickly. The man paused, looking down at her. "Marco's really freaked about this whole thing. He thinks you're going to hate him." At the look that Dylan gave her, she nodded. "I know. I told him you don't. But he's scared. So don't force anything, okay? He'll talk about it when he's ready." Dylan gave her an understanding nod before walking up the stairs. Ellie looked at the clock, sighing. Marco was going to be home soon. And she couldn't help but be slightly afraid for him.

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Marco walked into the house a half hour later, closing the door softly behind him. He noticed Paige watching TV, and could hear pages being flipped in the dining room. Which meant that they were both home. But… Dylan's flight had just come in not too long ago, right? That meant that Dylan was home. Oh no. He quickly turned around, hoping to get away before he had to face his boyfriend. He knew that he'd have to talk to Dylan sooner or later. Marco was just hoping for later.

"Marco." Oh crap. Caught.

Marco turned back around, a fake smile upon his Italian face. "Hey, Dylan." There was his boyfriend, standing on the staircase, water dripping from his hair. His shirt clung to his chest, and Marco could only assume that he had just taken a shower. Usually he would've been turned on by this, but he was way too scared at the moment to really even notice.

"Where are you going?" Dylan asked slowly, walking down the stairs. When Marco looked down at the ground, not answering him, Dylan sighed and stood next to Marco, taking his hands in his own. "I don't hate you, Marco. I could never hate you. I love you."

Marco looked up at Dylan slowly, noting the concern and fear in his lover's eyes. Before he knew it, he was wrapping his arms around the older man, tears falling onto Dylan's already wet chest. "Oh, Dylan, I missed you so much."

"I know," Dylan whispered, wrapping his arm around his boyfriend's small frame. He kissed the top of the Italian's head, holding him close. "I missed you too, Marco."

"Okay, as great as it is to see you two happy again, I really think you should cut it with the PDA before I get sick," Paige said from the couch, crossing her arms as she looked at the two under raised eyebrows. When they just looked at her, she waved her hand. "Go on. Go talk upstairs. If I miss even a minute of my show, I'll murder you both in your sleep. So go away."

Rolling his eyes, Dylan took Marco's hand in his own, leading him up the staircase. As they passed the bathroom, Marco felt the urge to run in and lock the door behind him. He couldn't deal with this. He knew it was his fault. He knew he was the one who had started this. But that seriously mean that he had to suffer? Did that seriously mean that he had to deal with his boyfriend being so disappointed in him? It broke his heart.

Noticing that Marco's eyes seemed to linger on the bathroom longer than they should have, Dylan pulled him into their room, and guided him over to the bed, sitting down. "Marco, why did you do this?" Marco just looked down at the blanket, tears in his eyes. "Baby, talk to me. Please."

Marco got up off of the bed and walked into the center of the room, his arms holding onto his torso as he stared down at the floor, his back to Dylan. "Because I can't live without you," he said softly, tears starting to make their way down his cheeks. "Because I was stressed and overworked and I needed some way to make it all better. You usually did that for me, but… without you here…" Marco turned around slowly, looking at Dylan through his tears. "I'm sorry."

Dylan quickly got up off the bed and made his way to his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around him. He held him close, rubbing his back as he rocked him slightly. He whispered comforting words into his lover's ear, trying to make all the hurt and pain go away "It's okay, Marco. I'm here now. Everything's going to be okay." Dylan didn't know who he was trying to convince more: Marco or himself.

"No it's not, Dylan!" Marco yelled, breaking free from his boyfriend's hold. "You left Switzerland for this. For nothing! You gave up your dream to be here! Why would you do that?"

"Because you're important to me and this is not nothing!" Dylan yelled back. He sighed and shook his head, running his hand through his hair. "Marco, you've been hurting yourself. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"It's my body, Dylan! If I want to cut myself, then that's what I'll do!" Marco yelled, making his way over to the door.

"Don't you dare leave!" Dylan yelled. Marco paused, his hand hovering over the doorknob. "We're not finished!"

Marco turned to him slowly, tears still running down his face. He glared at his boyfriend, his whisper cold. "Yes, we are."

"No, we're not." Dylan walked over to Marco, grabbing his hand. "Stop it. Okay? Stop masking the pain with anger. Stop hurting yourself. Every time you touch a blade to your arm, you're not the only one that suffers. I suffer too, Marco. Okay? It kills me to think that you're doing this to yourself. Please stop. Please." Dylan's eyes were pleading as he looked down at his boyfriend, swallowing hard. Marco needed help. And, even though he knew it was going to be hard, he had to be there for him. Every step of the way.

Marco leaned into his boyfriend, feeling safe and comforted when he felt strong arms wrap around him. "Okay," he said softly. "I'll stop."

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**Haley:** w00000, Dylan's first real appearance. I'm totally getting into this story. Though I'm actually starting to doubt how many chapters long it's actually going to be. I know what's going to happen next, but after that? I'm not completely sure. I guess we'll just see where it goes.

Review please! Kisses!


	4. Paige Michalchuck: Private Eye

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

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"I'm not going."

It was a week later, and the gang (minus Jimmy and Ashley, who had better things to do) had been planning to go to go swimming. Which was ridiculous, in Marco's opinion, considering that it was, like, winter. Then again, the weather as of late had been fairly hot. Which was unusual for the time of year, but apparently they were going with it. Hey, whatever worked.

Ellie knocked on Marco and Dylan's bedroom door again, sighing. "Marco, you have to come."

"No, I don't."

Ellie looked over at Dylan, who just shrugged. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he knocked on the door, seeming a little irritated. "Marco, if you're not going to come, at least open the door. I need to get ready."

"No."

"Marco."

"Go away."

"Marco, why don't you want to come to the beach with us?" Ellie asked, leaning against the door as Paige made her way down the hallway. When she opened her mouth, Ellie quickly cut her off. "He still refuses to come."

"Marco, get your butt out here now," Paige said, knocking on the door, right next to Ellie's head. The red head gave her an irritated look before moving, facing the door with the Michalchucks.

"Paige, I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I have to work on a paper."

Paige looked over at Dylan, who rolled his eyes. "Marco, please? We all really want you to come."

"I said no."

Paige crossed her arms and stared at the door. Marco wasn't going to win. She wasn't going to let him. "Well, you haven't given us a reason yet, now have you? Maybe--"

"I just said that I have to work on a paper, Paige. School is important you know. University is important. It decides my future. I think choosing my life over the beach is a wise decision. I'm not going. So give up already."

"Maybe when you give us a _real_ reason we'll leave you alone."

"Go away."

"Tell us."

"No."

"Marco."

"Paige."

"Marco."

"Paige."

"I can do this all day."

"…"

"Tell us."

"Because I have scars on my arm and I don't want the whole world to know I'm crazy! Okay? That's my reason!"

"Honey, no one thinks you're crazy," Dylan said softly, leaning his forehead against the door. "Just please come with us."

"You can wear one of my old arm warmers, if you want," Ellie suggested softly. Hey, they worked, didn't they? When they heard Marco let out a frustrated groan, she sighed, shrugging, before walking down the hallway. Hey, she was only trying to help.

"Marco, no one's going to stare at your arm, okay? Besides, your scars are healing. No one's going to notice." Paige looked at her watch, and then back at the door. "I'll be back up here in ten minutes. And if you're not ready by that time, I'm breaking the door down."

Dylan turned, watching his sister make his way down the hallway and over to the staircase. He set a hand on the wood, once again leaning his forehead on it. "Marco, baby, please let me in. I know you're upset, but we'll figure something out, okay? Please? Paige and Ellie are gone. It's just me. So open the door."

There was a silence within the room, and Dylan could tell that Marco was thinking about it. Now that Paige and Ellie were gone, he didn't have to worry about anyone trying to make him do something that he clearly didn't want to do. Like go swimming at the beach. Dylan wouldn't pressure him, especially not now.

"Fine." There was a shuffling in the room and Dylan heard footsteps before the lock clicked, the door opening. Unfortunately, Dylan hadn't been completely ready for this and fell forwards, Marco half catching him and him half catching himself. Thankfully, his boyfriend seemed to find this rather amusing and got up on his tip toes, grinning, before planting a kiss on Dylan's cheek.

Dylan smiled down at Marco and kissed the younger boy's nose, causing the small Italian man to blush. "Here, let me see your arm." Marco's smile instantly vanished, and he backed up from Dylan a little bit. "Marco." Marco didn't seem to want to comply. "You haven't been cutting again, have you?"

"Wait? No. Of course not." Though the look on his face told Dylan otherwise. Marco backed up, running into the bed. This forced his knees to buckle and he fell onto the made up mattress, swallowing hard. His eyes watched Dylan carefully as his boyfriend figured the best action to take.

"Stay here," Dylan said, sighing. He then left the room, coming back a moment later with first aid bandage wrap. He sat down next to Marco and grabbed his boyfriend's arm. When Marco tried to pull away, Dylan looked into his eyes, a look of comfort in them. "It's okay, Marco." He looked at the inside of Marco's arm, and was instantly relieved to find no new cuts. "See, they're healing just fine. Barely noticeable." At the look Marco gave him, he shrugged, grinning. "I know, I know. That's why I brought this. I thought we could wrap it around your arm, and no one could see. They'll think you sprained your wrist or something."

Marco took the bandage wrap out of Dylan's hand, looking it over for a second. Without another word, he handed it back to Dylan, sticking out his arm. That paper would just have to wait until later.

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"You know what, Marco? Next time I head to the store, I'll buy you a nice pink one with purple hearts and flowers just in case you decide to trade in your friends for blades again," Spinner said as they started to unload the car, referring to the bandage wrap that Dylan had put on Marco's arm.

"Spinner, back off, man," Craig said, shaking his head as he looked at his friend with an incredulous expression. He grabbed a case of water from the car, shoving it in Spinner's arms. "Marco--"

"No, it's fine," Marco said quickly, shrugging. He put on a smile, and acted like it was no big deal. Everyone could tell that he was hurts by Spinner's words, though. "He's angry. He has a right to be." He quickly grabbed some towels and started towards the sand, Ellie on his heels.

"Dylan, your cell phone's ringing," Paige said, looking over at the front seat through the back, where her brother had left his phone.

Dylan seemed to stare at the phone for a second, looking uneasy. Shifting from foot to foot, he seemed to debate whether or not he should actually answer. He then smiled at Paige, shrugging. "I'll call them back later. Right now nothing's more important than hanging out at the beach with my little sister and my boyfriend."

"Hey, what about your little sister and boyfriend's friends?" Craig asked, feigning hurt as he touched his hand to his chest. "That have now become your own? What about us, Dylan? Don't we matter, too?"

Dylan rolled his eyes, though he was smiling. "And hanging out with you guys, too. Of course. Silly me." He grabbed the water cooler, and started after the others, leaving Paige and Craig standing next to the car.

Paige's eyes watched her brother closely, narrowing as they did so. When Craig gave her a look, she smiled at him, shrugging. "I'll grab the rest of the stuff. You go on ahead, hon." Craig seemed to accept this and grabbed a grocery bag full of food, before running after Dylan. Paige looked back at the phone in the front seat for a moment, wondering who it could have been to make Dylan so uneasy. Ever since he had arrived back home, it was like he was someone else. She hadn't made a big deal out of it at first, blaming it on Marco's sudden issues with the world. Now she wasn't so sure. Paige then grabbed the last two bags of food before shutting the trunk, making her way down to the beach.

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"Marco, do you have your phone on you?" Paige asked, knowing full well that he didn't, and turned to her friend as he started opening another pack of hotdogs. Dylan was manning the grill and Marco was apparently his little helper. Not that anyone minded. They knew that as long as Marco was being Mr. Clingy McClingerton, Dylan wouldn't let him hurt himself again. Which was just fine with them.

"Actually, no, Paige. I'm sorry. I think I left it at home," Marco said, looking a bit guilty. Actually, he _had_ left it at home. For one very good reason. His parents had been calling him non stop lately. If it didn't start to die down a bit, Marco was going to think that someone told them about what happened. And, well, that would be bad. Very bad.

"I have mine," Craig said, reaching into his pocket.

"No!" Paige said quickly. Everyone stared at her, clearly confused. "I mean, Marco's phone has this cute little picture of him and Dylan on it that I wanted to show Ellie."

A blush settled itself upon the Italian man's cheeks, and he smiled slightly, shrugging. "Well, Dylan and I keep the same pictures on our phones. You know that. I'm sure that if it's on mine, it's on his. You left it in the car, right, Dylan? I'll go get it."

As he turned to leave, Dylan quickly caught his arm, shaking his head. "No, no, that's okay. I'll go get it. Spinner, you're in charge of the grill."

"Oh goodie. Just make sure not to burn anything, Spin," Paige said, watching as Dylan gave Marco a kiss on the cheek before making his way back to the car. Yeah, something was definitely up. Dylan was acting strange. Well, more strange than usual since he had come back home. And, as his little sister, she was going to take it upon herself to find out exactly what it was. She was Paige Michalchuck. No one kept secrets from her. Not even Dylan. _Especially_ not Dylan.


	5. Sparco

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note: **I'm pretty sure that when I re-read the first part of this chapter, it gave me chills, too. It's very angsty. You've been warned.

**Author's Note 2: **I couldn't help it. I had to add in a little Sparco. So sue me. I love Spinner and Marco together. Don't worry, I'm a Darco gal at heart!

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_Blood. Blood dripping. The faucet on the skin was broken. It wouldn't stop dripping. It wouldn't stop leaking. No matter how hard he tried to fix it, there it was. The blood. It was starting to pool in the sink now, inevitably staining the porcelain within. He reached down, trying to unplug the sink. The drain stopper was on the counter. The drain was empty. But, yet, the blood still seemed to drip. To pool in a place of cleansing. He couldn't stop it. He couldn't get the blood to go away._

_Marco's blood._

_He looked at himself in the mirror, running a finger down the shiny exterior. He had spread the blood. Droplets made their way down the reflecting surface. The blood shown crimson, taunting him, threatening him. He ran his finger across the mirror again, drawing a heart. A heart made out of blood. Blood so pure. So lasting. A heart that wouldn't go away. The blood staid._

_Marco's blood._

_He lifted his hand to his face, staring at the red, shining liquid. His hand was bloody. He reached for a towel, and attempted to scrub it away. It didn't work. The blood staid. The blood was a constant. He kneeled down, trying to fix the drain again. He hit it. He kicked it. He abused the drain. A screw came loose. Blood poured. Blood sprayed. Blood was all over the floor. It wouldn't go away. He couldn't make it stop. The blood hated him. Soon, the blood would drown him._

_Marco's blood. Marco's blood spilled because of him. He couldn't fix Marco. Marco's blood. Marco's blood sprayed. Marco's blood dripped. Marco's blood. His fault._

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"What's it like to kiss a guy?"

Marco spit out some of his water, choking on the rest, as he sat at the dining room table. Spinner was over for lunch, Paige had invited him. So, to celebrate the occasion of Spinner not throwing him hateful glances every five minutes, Marco had made some pasta for everyone. Everything seemed to be going great. Paige was acting a little off and giving Dylan weird looks, and Dylan was acting sort of strange, but besides that, it was really good. Spinner actually wasn't being an asshole. The first time since Marco had broken his promise to him. Instead, Spinner was asking about kissing guys. Yeah, that was great. So much better.

"Woah, Marco," Dylan said quickly, patting his boyfriend on the back. He was sitting at the head of the table next to Marco, Ellie on Marco's other side. Paige and Spinner took up the seats across from them, and Paige looked slightly amused by her boyfriend's question. "Take it easy there."

Marco didn't even seem to hear his boyfriend, instead staring at Spinner for a few moments, trying to figure out if his friend was serious or not. When Spinner raised his eyebrows, giving him a look that clearly told him to answer his question, Marco shrugged slightly. "Umm… I don't know. It's… kissing?"

"Well, is it like kissing a chick?" Spinner asked, showing an odd interest in this topic. Oh-kay. Maybe Marco should just humor him. Yeah, sure.

Marco looked back and forth between Ellie and Dylan a couple times, thinking about what Spinner asked. Ellie's kisses were nice. Well, they had been a while back. They were simple. Their first real kiss, before Ellie found out that Marco was gay, was great. It wasn't a contest. He was in control. But his kisses with Dylan? That was a whole different story. They competed for dominance. And Dylan usually won. Well, actually, Dylan_ always_ won. Marco finally looked back at Spinner. "No, it's not. Why do you care, Spin?"

Spinner shrugged, a small smile on his face. "Nothing. Just curious." He looked down at his pasta, spinning it around his fork. He remained silent for a few minutes. Just as Paige was about to open her mouth to start up a topic, he looked up again, and quickly spoke. "Marco, can I kiss you?"

This time Marco choked on more than his water. He bent over in his chair, violently coughing as he tried to get the pasta sauce out of his windpipe. As soon as Dylan was done with his oh so very shocked expression, he quickly got up and helped his boyfriend, patting him on the back quickly. Ellie helped Dylan get out of his seat and over to the sink quickly, before Marco's coughing caused him to be sick. Ellie scrunched up her nose in disgust. Gross.

"You weren't supposed to ask him yet!" Paige whispered heatedly under her breath to Spinner, looking positively annoyed. "You were supposed to wait until Dylan left the room, you idiot! Besides, you could have killed him!"

Spinner shrugged, looking quite amused. "Hey, if I'm going to actually have to kiss Marco, I may as well get what I paid for." He suddenly realized how wrong that sounded. "In the entertainment sense, of course." Yeah, still bad. "As in a show." Worse. "You know what? Whatever. You know what I mean."

"Are you okay now, hon?" Paige asked, looking worried as Dylan rubbed Marco's back, leading him to the chair. Ellie had apparently offered to take care of the puke in the sink. Well, wasn't that nice. Ew.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Marco said, waving it off. He voice was a little hoarse, though that was to be expected. He stared at Spinner for a second, trying to decide if his friend was serious or not. Again. "Spin--"

"Hey, I just want to know what it feels like to kiss a guy," Spinner said, shrugging.

"Spinner, you're not kissing Marco," Dylan said, staring at him like he was insane.

"Why?" Spinner asked, narrowing his eyes at Dylan in a suspicious manner. "Jealous? Don't want someone else touching your man? Afraid that I might not be as straight as I say I am and might become a little competition? Is that it? Huh? Is that it, punk? You're scared, admit it. You don't want me kissing Marco because you're scared that I may be a better kisser than you. That's it, isn't it Dylan? Isn't it? _Isn't it_?"

Ellie had come back to the table, though she didn't touch her food because, hi, loss of appetite after the puke incident, and now her and everyone else at the table was staring at Spinner like he had just grown an extra head. Make that three extra heads.

"Spin, what has gotten into you?" Marco asked, raising his eyebrows. He had gone insane and now he was imagining Spinner saying things that he'd never say. Yeah, that was totally it. At least, he hoped so. When Spinner merely shrugged, Marco let out an mirthless laugh, shaking his head. "I'm so done eating." He got up from the table, Dylan and Ellie quickly following. The three of them headed upstairs.

"Spinner, you're going to ruin everything!" Paige whispered, hitting her boyfriend on the arm. "I can't believe you! What was that?"

"Hey, if I'm screwing up so badly here, why don't you kiss him?" Spinner asked, crossing his arms.

"Because he's gay, you imbecile. Dylan won't care if he's kissing a girl." Oh dear lord, this wasn't working out as planned. Paige just hoped that Spinner stopped acting like an idiot long enough for her plan to work. Or else she was just plain screwed.

"Well, I don't think Dylan would care if he was kissing a straight guy. Remember Craig?"

"Yeah, but Craig didn't ask Marco to kiss him." Paige stood up from her chair, shaking her head. "Forget it. Dylan's not going to get jealous when you're acting like a lunatic." She started collecting the dishes, and walked into the kitchen.

Spinner collected the rest of the dishes, following his girlfriend. "Why are we trying to make Dylan jealous, anyway? I mean, really, what's the point of that?"

Paige set the dishes she was carrying on the counter before grabbing a napkin, wiping some of the sauce that had made contact with her skin. Gross. "Don't worry about that, hon. All you need to know is that you're getting a big reward if you actually succeed in kissing Marco. Just think about that." She gave him a small smile before kissing his cheek and making her way out of the kitchen.

Spinner stood there for a moment, then looked up at the ceiling, as if he had x-ray vision and could see what Dylan and Marco were doing at the time. A surprise from his girlfriend for kissing a guy. Well, as long as it was the surprise that he was thinking about, he really had no problem with it. "Huh. I think I should kiss Marco soon. Maybe then I'll get my reward tonight." Pause. "Oh yeah, I'm so kissing Marco today."

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"Wait, I don't get it," Dylan said, cocking his head to the side slightly as he looked at Marco. The two were sitting on the couch a few hours later, watching one of shows that younger boy loved so much. Thing was, he had gotten into it while Dylan was away. Meaning that the hockey player had no clue what was going on. He draped his arm around the young Italian's shoulders, pulling him closer as he narrowed his eyes at the TV, trying to make sense of the plot.

"Well, see, he wants her," Marco said, pointing to one of the guys on the screen, then the chick. "Problem is, that guy in the scene before--"

"That Dylan guy," Dylan said, nodding. The only reason he was keeping up with that kid's name was because he had the same one as himself.

Marco grinned slightly, nodding. "Right. See, Dylan wants her, too. And she wants him. They have this huge history, involving sex and her getting pregnant and an abortion and lots more. Now, but see, those two guys aren't the only ones that want her. There's one of the security guys for the local mob boss, and then this computer wiz, too. And while those two guys and Dylan are making fools out of themselves for her, this guy here," he pointed back to the screen again, "is silently waiting to make the ultimate move."

"Sounds very…" Dylan paused, deciding on the best word to use to describe the show that his boyfriend was making him watch. "..dramatic."

"And that's why it's called a daytime soap opera," Marco said, shrugging, his grin still in place. He leaned up and planted a kiss on Dylan's cheek, before resting his head on the older boy's shoulder.

"Marco, I have a solution for you," Ellie said as she walked into the living room, a small pencil box in her hand. She sat down on the other side of Marco, who quickly took his head off of his boyfriend's shoulder, looking at his friend. Ellie glanced at the TV for a moment, shaking her head. "I can't believe you're watching this with him." When Marco gave her a look that clearly said to hurry up, she nodded. "Right." Opening the box, she pulled out a blue rubber band, before taking Marco's right hand in her own. She slipped it on his arm, looking quite pleased with herself. Dylan looked on curiously.

Marco stared at the rubber band for a moment, before looking over at his friend. "Ellie--"

"Now, I know it's not up to the Marco Del Rossi way of fashion, but it helps. Really, it does. Here, look." She grabbed the rubber band, letting it snap against Marco's wrist. She seemed satisfied when Marco let out a loud 'ow, Ellie!' and grabbed onto his wrist. "See? It works."

Still rubbing his wrist, Marco looked over at Dylan, who looked at the rubber band with a hard look. Like he hated it or something. "Dylan, did you see that?" When Dylan's eyes met his own, looking questioning, Marco rolled his eyes. "She snapped me with the rubber band!"

"Oh, my poor Marco," Dylan said, rolling his eyes before looking back at the TV. When Marco hit his leg, Dylan grinned, and shook his head. He took Marco's hand in his own, before kissing his boyfriend's wrist. "There, all better."

"Thank you," Marco said, looking pleased before Ellie rolled her eyes, getting up off of the couch. Apparently she wasn't a fan of the Darco PDA.

"Marco, Marco, Marco," Paige said hurriedly, running into the living room from the front door. "We totally need to hang out tonight."

Marco stared at Paige for a moment, before deciding to speak. "Paige, we live together. We hang out every night."

"I know that, silly." Paige walked over to the couch and pushed Dylan and Marco apart, forcibly sitting between the two. "I meant just the two of us. Pizza, soda, chips, some bad movies from the 80s. Plus, I can do your hair."

Marco brought his hand up to his hair, before sending a small pout in Paige's direction. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"Nothing," Paige said, a smile on her face. I just think it's time for a change. I mean, your hair has been the same color for, like, your entire life. I think we should dye it." When she felt Dylan's eyes on her back, she quickly turned to her brother. "Yes? Is there something I can do for you?"

"You're not touching Marco's hair," Dylan said, crossing his arms.

"I think that's for him to decide, not you," Paige said, before turning back to her best friend.

"You're not touching my hair," Marco said, looking a bit defensive.

"Okay, fine, fine. We won't do you hair. But we can still order in some pizza and watch a couple movies together. Just you and me. What do you say?" Paige put her arm around Marco's shoulder, snuggling up to him with a big grin on her face and puppy dog eyes.

Marco sighed, nodding. "Sure, Paige, sounds great," he said with a small smile on his face. "But you have to leave Dylan and I alone in the meantime."

"Deal." Paige got up off the couch, looking excited. "But at eight o'clock you're mine." She then left the two, who quickly filled the spot between them, snuggling up once again.

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"It's seven fifty five, Dylan," Paige said as she looked down at her brother, who was sitting at the dining room table. "When are you leaving?"

"Who said I had to leave?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from his laptop, looking slightly bewildered at this sudden new information. "You just said that you wanted to hang out with Marco at eight. You never said that I couldn't spend those four odd hours in my room."

Paige seemed to consider this for a moment, before nodding. "Okay, fine. But you have five minutes to get your butt up there. Got it?"

Dylan rolled his eyes and grabbed his laptop off the table, before getting up. "I'll just go now." He left the table and made his way across the living room before starting towards the stairs. When the doorbell rang, he stopped to get it, but was quickly shooed by Paige.

"Wait, Dyl. I'll get it. It's probably the pizza guy." Dylan shrugged and went up the stairs before Paige made her way over to the door, opening it. She pulled her boyfriend in, whispering as she looked over at the staircase. "Spinner, you're late."

"Sorry," Spinner said, shrugging.

"Okay, go. Now." She pushed Spinner into the living room, pointing at the couch. He obliged and sat down, before Paige left the room.

A minute later, Marco made his way down the stairs, and looked shocked when he saw his friend sitting down on the couch. "Spinner, what are you doing here? Where's Paige?"

Spinner took this as his chance and walked over to Marco slowly. He could do this. He could totally do this. It was called acting. He had done it before. Sort of. "Marco, I need help."

"Okay," Marco said, nodding. "With what?"

"I'm not sure how to say this…" Spinner looked down at the ground, looking a bit uncomfortable. Ashamed, too. Yeah, he had to add that in for affect.

"Spin, whatever it is, you can tell me. I'll help," Marco said, looking a bit worried. He set a hand on Spinner's shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"Marco, I'm not sure that I'm straight." Spinner looked up at his friend, who was staring at Spinner with a bewildered expression. "I mean, I like girls, but… I keep… having these… um …feelings… Can you help me?"

Marco broke himself out of his shocked state, nodding slightly. "Um, sure… How?"

"Kiss me." Spinner set a hand on Marco's shoulder just as Marco took his hand off Spinner's. "I just want to see. That's all."

Marco looked around, then over at the stairs. He didn't want Dylan to come down and suddenly find him making out with Spinner. But if it was just a kiss to help Spinner figure out his sexuality, then what was the harm? He didn't have feelings for Spinner. And, as far as he knew, Spinner didn't have any feelings for him, either. After a reluctant sigh, Marco nodded. "Okay, Spin. One kiss."

Spinner seemed to brighten up at Marco's answer, and took a step closer to his friend, his hand on Marco's shoulder making its way to the back of the Italian's neck. Marco looked into Spinner's eyes, and couldn't help but think that this was slightly ironic. Spinner, the one who had originally had a problem with Marco being gay, was now inches away, his mind set on kissing him. Such a turn of events. The area between them closed slowly, and Marco's eyes drooped down, shutting completely. His arms somehow found their way around Spinner's neck, and before he knew it, his friend's lips were against his own.

That's when the battle started. Apparently a simple kiss wasn't enough for Spinner. He was forceful, his kisses hard as he pushed Marco against the wall, his hand drifting down to settle itself on the shorter man's waist as the other leaned on the wall. His tongue soon found its way into Marco's own mouth, and they competed for dominance, battling each other to try and win over the other. As much as Spinner hated to admit it, this was kind of hot. His leg found its way between Marco's, his thigh pushing up against the other boy's groin, rubbing on it with force. Marco's hands were now resting on Spinner's back, slowly sliding down to the hem of his shirt. Before they knew it, Marco's hands were sliding up under Spinner's shirt, grasping his back, massaging his muscles. They were both so completely into the kiss that they didn't even realize that someone was watching them until Spinner was pulled off of Marco, and pushed across the room.

"Dylan!" Marco said, surprised to find his boyfriend downstairs. And, well, he didn't look too happy at what he had seen. "Dylan, I can explain. See, Spinner's confused. He just wanted me to help him sort out his feelings about guys and… and that's all we were doing."

"Yeah, right," Dylan said, looking unconvinced. "Marco, last time you caught me making out with another guy, you dumped me."

"Yeah, well, you're the one who wanted us to have an open relationship. I had a right to dump you," Marco retaliated, crossing his arms. "It was one kiss, Dylan. I'm sorry, okay?"

Dylan sighed, nodding. "Fine." He looked over at Spinner, glaring at the younger boy. "Go. Now."

Spinner looked positively afraid of his girlfriend's older brother, and backed up a bit. "Um, Paige, me getting beat down by Dylan wasn't apart of the plan!" Yeah, and neither was getting so turned on my kissing Marco. Well, that wasn't good.

Marco and Dylan looked at each other for a moment as Paige walked in the room. "Plan?" Dylan asked slowly, looking over at his little sister. She just put her head in her hands, shaking her head.

Great. Just great.


	6. Broken Hearts and Thrown Spinners

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Warnings**: Self mutilation (cutting)

**Author's Note:** There's a tiny bit more Sparco in this chapter. Just a _tiny_ bit, promise. xx

**Author's Note 2: PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE IN MY PROFILE PAGE**

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"I can't believe you, Paige!" Dylan yelled as he paced back in forth in the living room, his little sister and her boyfriend sitting down on the couch in front of him. Marco was leaning against the wall, looking a little uncomfortable about the whole ordeal. He wanted desperately to run upstairs and go hide in the bathroom. Paige had planned to intentionally hurt Dylan and he had accidentally gone along with it. Gee, he was just a fabulous boyfriend, wasn't he?

"Yeah? Well, I can't believe you're cheating on Marco again," Paige said, shrugging. The three guys stared at her for a second, before Marco pushed himself off the wall, looking pissed.

"Paige, I'm not cheating on Marco!" Dylan said, staring at his sister like she was a mad woman. "Where did you get that from? How could you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Probably from that call that you kept a secret. And then you didn't want Marco to go get your phone from the car! I mean, really, Dylan. If you're going to go all secretive and everything, at least do a good job of it." Paige crossed her arms and leaned back, glaring at her brother.

Dylan stole a glance at Marco, who looked unsure of who to believe. When he crossed his arms, staring down the older man, Dylan threw out his arms, looking astonished that his boyfriend actually might be taking Paige's side. "Marco, she doesn't know what she's talking about! I'm not cheating on you."

"She makes a pretty valid point, though," Marco said, walking over to the couch and sitting down next to Paige… yeah, he wasn't going to chance sitting down next to Spinner at the moment. He didn't think that would help the situation any.

Sighing, Dylan ran a hand over his face, and through his hair. "This is ridiculous. I'm not cheating on you. That call was from a friend in Switzerland."

"A sex loving friend?" Paige asked, staring at her brother with an expectant look.

"Paige!"

"It's just a question," she said, shrugging. "A very good one, I believe."

"A friend friend. As in someone I hung out with. And did friend things with. I wasn't cheating on Marco. What, was I just supposed to be a hermit while I was gone? I had to have some kind of social life, guys."

Marco thought about this for a moment, before turning to Paige. "See? You made Spinner kiss me for nothing."

"Hey, hey, woah. I did _not_ tell Spinner to kiss you like that, hon. I said a kiss, not a full on make out session," Paige said, sticking up her hands in surrender. "That was _not_ my doing. You're going to have to take that one up with him."

When both Dylan and Marco turned to Spinner, he looked at Paige for a second. He could not believe she was throwing all this on him. It had been her plan to begin with! He quickly looked back at Dylan, crossing his arms. "If it was just a friend, why were you keeping the phone call a secret, huh?"

"You know, that's a good question," Marco said, now turning back to his boyfriend, looking curious and a bit pissed again.

"Marco, who's side are you on?" Dylan asked, looking in desperate need for someone to bat for his team.

"I'm on my own side," Marco said, shrugging. "I'm not siding with manipulating friends or secret keeping boyfriends." By this time, he had started snapping his rubber band repeatedly against his wrist, wincing only slightly when it came in contact with his skin. He so wanted to go upstairs at the moment.

Unfortunately, Spinner seemed to notice this decided to use it against Marco. Jerk. "Yeah, well, we didn't want to side with the self mutilating Italian anyway," he said, throwing a glare over in Marco's direction.

"Spinner!" Paige and Dylan said in unison, glaring at the boy. Paige hit her boyfriend's arm as Marco quickly got up off the couch, heading towards the stairs.

"Marco, wait!" Paige yelled, making her way over to him as her friend stopped at the base of the stairs. Dylan followed her, looking concerned. "Hon, he didn't mean it." She put a hand on his arm, squeezing it lightly.

"Uh, yeah I did, Paige," Spinner said, getting off the couch. "Marco, you--" He was cut off by Dylan grabbing his shirt and pinning him against the wall, looking quite pissed off. "Woah, dude, chill."

"You're not going to talk to Marco ever again unless Marco talks to you first." Dylan pulled him out a bit and slammed him against the wall again. "And when you do, you better be saying nice things. He's having a hard time right now and he doesn't need you adding to his stress!" He once again slammed Spinner against the wall.

"Dylan, stop!" Marco rushed over to the two, and pried Dylan's fingers off of Spinner's shirt. He pushed his boyfriend back, patting him on the chest. "It's okay. I can stick up for myself. You don't always have to be my defender, you know." When Dylan rolled his eyes and nodded, Marco turned around, facing Spinner. "Yeah, you know what, I did cut myself. And I'm sorry that I broke my promise to you, okay? But I was under stress, Spin. I had to deal with my Dad and work and school and Ellie's whole new thing with Craig… Paige moving in and taking Dylan's spot… All this without my boyfriend. I had to deal with life in addition to being forced to hang out with you guys. My group of friends, filled with couples. I was the fifth wheel. Sometimes the seventh wheel. I had to watch you guys snuggle up to each other and act like couples, all the time while I felt like I was basically single because Dylan was half way around the world. And I needed something to help. That did it for me. It was stupid, I know it was. And I regret doing it. But I'm working on it. Isn't that enough? Can't you just accept that? We've known each other for years, Spin. And if you were a true friend, you wouldn't hold my problem against me. You'd try to help me instead of throwing it in my face every five seconds. You're not helping. You're making the problem worse. You're making me want to--"

Marco was suddenly cut off by Spinner's lips against his own, pressing onto the young Italian man forcefully. Spinner's hands were placed on Marco's cheeks, this thumbs brushing the younger boy's skin. It was cut short, however, and the next thing Marco knew, Dylan was literally throwing Spinner out of the house. He raised his eyebrows, before touching his lips softly. Oh dear.

"Dylan!" Paige cried out, quickly running out the door. She knelt next to her idiotic boyfriend, who was now laying on his side, in the middle of the walkway. He looked a bit in pain, but was mostly just glaring at Dylan. "I can't believe you threw him!"

Dylan looked down at the two, shaking his head. "Paige, stay at Spinner's tonight," he said, before closing the door and turning the lock. He looked over at Marco, who still looked to be in shock. "I can't believe you, Marco. You accused me of cheating, and then you go and kiss Spinner?"

"He kissed me!" Marco said defensively, staring at his boyfriend in shock. "Did you not see that? I didn't kiss him back, Dylan! You know what? Forget it." He started walking away towards the kitchen, snapping his rubber band repeatedly.

Sighing, Dylan rubbed the bridge of his nose, before catching Marco's arm. He put a hand over the rubber band, looking into his boyfriend's eyes. "I wish you wouldn't do that," he said softly, looking concerned.

Marco quickly pulled his arm out of Dylan's grasp, glaring at the older man. "Oh, really? Okay, fine, I'll go upstairs and use my razor again. How does that work for you? Is that better?" He turned back to the kitchen, starting towards it.

Oh, he wasn't going to let him get away that easily. "Marco, what is with you lately?" he asked as he followed his boyfriend, his arms crossed. This was going to be a long night, wasn't it?

Marco stopped walking and paused for a moment, shaking his head. He then turned around slowly, glaring at his boyfriend. "Me? You're the one keeping secrets from me! You're the one who decided that I wasn't important enough to let in on the little life you lived while you were gone!"

"Not important? Marco, I gave up my dream for you! I wanted to be a hockey star since I was a little kid! I would watch hockey on TV and say 'daddy, when I'm older, I'm going to be one of those men! I'm going to be famous and a great hockey legend!' I gave that up for you! Because you were so damn selfish that you couldn't last a few months without me!" Oops. Did he just say that? "You accuse me of thinking that you're not important, but I gave up everything for you!"

Oh, that was it. Marco felt tears threatening to spill over and pushed Dylan away from him, before starting towards the stairs. "Fine, if I'm such a burden, then get out!"

"Marco, I'm s--"

Marco turned around quickly, tears already on his olive skinned cheeks. "I said get out!!" he screamed. Without another word he started up the stairs. Half way to the second story of the house, he ripped the rubber band off his arm and threw it down at Dylan.

It took Dylan a moment to figure out what that meant. He bent down and picked up the rubber band, staring at it for a second, before recognition set in. His eyes went wide and he dropped it, quickly starting up the stairs. "Marco, wait! Marco!"

Marco didn't listen to Dylan. Instead, he ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. "What part of 'get out' don't you understand! Go away, Dylan! I never want to see your face again!" He banged open the medicine cabinet before grabbing his razor and sitting down on the toilet.

Dylan wasn't going to give up that easily. He banged on the door, desperate for his boyfriend to open it up and tell him that he was silly. Of course he wasn't going to cut. But Dylan knew that wasn't going to happen. He had pushed Marco too far. "Marco, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! Please, just come out!"

Marco felt himself completely losing it. He let out a quiet sob, slashing his arm, causing tears to mix with blood. So, he was such a burden to Dylan? He was selfish, was he? Well, damn him. Damn Dylan to hell.

When Dylan didn't get a response, he quickly ran down the hall, and into Paige's room. From there, he searched through his sister's things. There had to be one here somewhere. Finally, after opening a small box on her dresser, he grabbed a bobby pin, before racing back to the bathroom. His dad had showed him this once. He could do it. Kneeling down, he stuck the bobby pin in the lock, working his magic.

It took a few moments, but sooner rather than later, the door opened to a distraught Marco slashing up his arm. "Marco, stop!" He immediately got to his feet and ran over to Marco, grabbing the razor from his boyfriend's hand as he kneeled down in front of the toilet. "Stop it! I don't like you doing this!"

"You caused it!" Marco screamed, pushing Dylan backwards before grabbing the razor back. He slashed his arm again, and Dylan looked on, terrified.

"Marco, stop it!" Dylan screamed back, grabbing the razor once again. He held it tightly this time, determined to keep even more cuts from appearing on his boyfriend's olive skin. "You're scaring me!"

"You didn't seem so scared a second ago!" Marco yelled, attempting to grab the razor back. Unfortunately for him, Dylan pulled back, before standing up. The older man then pulled up his own sleeve before dragging the blade across his arm, wincing as he did so. Marco's eyes went wide. "Dylan, stop!"

"Is this what you like doing?! Huh?!" Dylan yelled, staring angrily down at his boyfriend. He slashed his arm again, obviously not liking the feeling. "How do you like it when I do it?! Does it make you feel good?! Do you like it?!" When Marco looked down at the ground, shaking his head, Dylan nodded. His anger slowly went away, and his next words were softer as he stared down at his shaking boyfriend. Marco was crying again. "Does it scare you?" At this, Marco nodded softly, and let out a sob.

Dylan threw the razor in the sink and slowly got back down to his knees, looking up at Marco. He pushed the younger man's bangs away, and put a finger under Marco's chin, lifting his head up. "It scares me when you do this to yourself, Marco," he said softly. "It scares me so bad." Marco threw his arms around Dylan's neck, and Dylan pulled him down to the ground, holding him tightly. "Please don't do it anymore. I know that sometimes I can be aggravating. I know that I can piss you off. And I say things that I don't mean. But that's my problem, Marco. If you have to take a swing at me to keep yourself from doing this again, then please. My jaw is here for you anytime. Just don't do this anymore. Please." Tears were coming to Dylan's own eyes, and he held onto his boyfriend for dear life, afraid that if he let go then Marco would disappear.

"I'm sorry," Marco whispered, his tears now ceasing. He snuggled his head in the crook of Dylan's neck, and pulled his arm down, looking at it. "I think I got a bit of blood on you."

Dylan swallowed hard, nodding. "It's okay. I'll deal with it later."

They sat like that, holding each other, for longer than either knew. It felt safe. Comfortable. Like there was nothing else in the world that they needed to be doing. Because throughout everything, they needed each other. They needed the wisdom and words of the other. They couldn't live without each other. While Marco was going insane in Toronto, Dylan was going insane in Switzerland. They were two halves of one whole. Without each other, they were incomplete.

After what seemed like forever, Dylan let out a little laugh. Marco looked up at him, his eyes questioning. Dylan responded, sounding a bit amused. "My arm hurts like hell."

Marco allowed himself a small smile, and kissed Dylan's cheek. "Mine too. Let's get cleaned up."

Dylan nodded, and stood up, taking Marco with him. "Good idea." He leaned down and gave Marco a small peck on the lips, before gazing into his eyes adoringly. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Marco whispered, his cheeks going slightly pink.

Dylan grinned at the tiny bit of embarrassment that his boyfriend showed, and was about to respond when something interrupted them. The sound of the front door slamming reached their ears, and when someone started calling for them, he walked over to the door, looking concerned. "We're up here!"

Before they knew it, Ellie was running down the hallway, looking panicked. "Marco, something happened to your parents. Something bad."


	7. Welcome to Hell

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note: **Okay, so I hate this chapter. Like, I _really_ hate it. But it had to be written to make way for certain sub plots within the story. Don't worry, Marco's issues aren't over with yet. Actually… that should make you worry, huh? Well, my point is, the story revolves around Marco's cutting. And, even though the last chapter should have been his final time, this story can't continue without it. So it wasn't his last time. I'm rambling now. The point is, this chapter sucks, but for Marco to cut again because of future events, it had to be written. Yes, that's it. I'm done now. xx

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_"Marco, something happened to your parents. Something bad."_

That was the one moment that Marco wished he could take back in his life. He wished that Ellie hadn't told him that something had happened. Maybe if she didn't tell him, it wouldn't be real. He'd be able to go about his life like normal, and not have to deal with the prospect of someone hurting his family. He'd just be able to snuggle up to Dylan on the couch and watch some lame romantic comedy that he couldn't get enough of. But here he was, sitting in a chair at the police station, waiting for his life to make sense.

"Have they talked to you yet?" Dylan asked, walking over to Marco. He sat down next to his boyfriend and handed him some bottled water, that Marco gratefully took. When Marco shook his head, untwisting the cap, Dylan sighed, looking around. "You weren't even there. Why would they have to see you?"

"They found something," Marco said softly, before looking over at Dylan. "They haven't told me what yet." He took a big drink of his water before fastening the cap. He rubbed a hand across his face, looking stressed. "They won't even tell me anything. All I know is that their house was broken into. And now my dad's at the hospital with a concussion. They won't even let me go see him until they've talked to me!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure your dad's fine," Dylan said, placing a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. He squeezed it tightly, before leaning over and planting a kiss on the younger man's cheek.

"Marco Del Rossi." An officer was looking out of a room, one that his mother was in. When he spotted Marco, he walked over to him, holding out a hand. "I'm Officer Jacobs. I'm in charge of the investigation."

Marco stood up, shaking the man's hand. Dylan stood up with him, looking worried. "Do you know who did it yet?"

"No, son, I'm afraid I don't. But we did find something that has us worried. If I could talk to you for a second, about that, your friend here could come along." The two didn't even bother to correct him as they followed the officer back to his office, where Marco's mother still was. He motioned for them to sit down.

Marco sat down in the chair next to his mother, Dylan standing behind him. There were other chairs, but something about the officer's tone had him worried. He wanted to be close to Marco right now. He felt he had to.

"Mr. Del Rossi, what's interesting about this is the perpetrators didn't steal anything. As far as we could tell, they came in, searched for something, and then your father came home. They took him by surprise, knocked him out, left a note, and were gone within minutes." He opened a drawer, pulling out a plastic evidence bag, setting it on his desk. Mrs. Del Rossi seemed to become more upset at this, and let out a sob.

"Ma, what's--"

"It's about you," Officer Jacobs said, before looking at Mrs. Del Rossi sympathetically.

Marco looked up at Dylan for a moment, before swallowing hard. He grabbed the letter, and read it over. When he was finished, he felt like he was going to be sick. No way. This couldn't be happening. This really couldn't be happening. Why would someone do this? Why would someone hate him so much? He read it over a few times more, before looking up at his boyfriend again, whose eyes were questioning. Marco handed him the letter before setting his elbows on his knees and resting his head in his hands. So much for being stress free. He looked up at the officer. "Do you have a rubber band, by any chance?"

Dylan watched the confused man hand Marco a rubber band from his desk, and quickly looked down at the letter. What he read both scared him and pissed him off.

Mr. and Mrs. Del Rossi,

If you think back, I'm sure that you will remember us just fine. Toronto University Freshman Orientation. You accompanied your son, Marco Del Rossi. He was excited to go there, to be apart of college life. But there are some people that don't enjoy having him there. Some people that have to deal with him day after day. Some people that don't want to see him around anymore.

We know about Marco. And if your family isn't careful, we'll _really_ know him. Just before we kill him. Why? Because he's a fag and he doesn't deserve to live. We don't want to put up with him in our courses anymore. Get him out of Toronto or prepare to lose him.

"Marco, we're very concerned about your well-being," Officer Jacobs said, before Mrs. Del Rossi let out another sob. Marco scooted his chair closer to his mother's and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, trying to soothe her. "We want to assign someone to look after you until the perps are caught."

"You want to assign someone to be my babysitter?" Marco asked slowly, raising his eyebrows.

"Not babysitter, more of a bodyguard."

"Look, I know that letter is unsettling, but I have people around me that can protect me if something goes wrong," Marco said, sighing. "I don't want to have a police officer watching my every move."

"Marco, maybe it's not such a bad idea," Dylan said softly, looking down at his boyfriend.

"Dylan--"

"We can't be around you all the time. You have class and work. Maybe having someone around to be there when we can't be is what we need." When Marco gave Dylan a look, Dylan shrugged. "Marco, there are people out there who want to kill you. They raided your parents' house because of you. Your father is in the hospital. I don't want you to end up there, too."

Marco looked down at the ground and started snapping the rubber band that was now on his wrist. He rubbed his face, sighing, before looking back at the officer. "Okay. If Dylan thinks it's a good idea, and if it'll make Ma feel better… then okay. Let's do it."

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"I feel like I'm being stalked," Marco said as he sat in The Dot the next night, across from Dylan at a table. Ellie and Craig had joined them, along with Jimmy. Even with all his friends around, the police officer didn't think it was wise to leave him. She was sitting in a booth against the wall, looking around and glancing at the group every so often.

"Hey, at least it's better than being dead," Jimmy said pointedly.

"Yeah, but, man, it's still creepy," Craig said, before looking behind him at the police officer. She chose that moment to look at the group, and gave him the most creepy, hard look. It sent a shiver down his spine.

"We've learned not to look at her," Ellie said, nodding as she patted her boyfriend on the back.

"She was waiting outside the bathroom this morning while I took a shower!" Marco whispered, with an incredulous look.

Ellie grinned. "There goes fun time with Dylan," she said, winking at Marco.

"Ellie!" Marco said, his face going red before burying it in his hands.

"Aw, c'mon, we don't want to hear about that," Craig said, looking disgusted. "I mean, really. Gross."

"Hey, where's Spinner and Paige?" Jimmy asked, looking a bit confused. "Paige said they didn't have anything to do today. I thought that was code for 'yeah, sure, we'll hang out with you guys so I can have a break from putting up with Spinner myself.'"

"Dylan's not exactly happy with them at the moment," Ellie said, glancing at Marco for a second, before looking back at Jimmy. "I asked that same question last night when I realized Paige wasn't home. Though, Marco, you never told me _why_ Dylan kicked them out."

"You kicked them out?" Craig said, his eyes going wide as he raised his eyebrows at Dylan.

"He had a good reason," Marco said, sticking up for his boyfriend. "Just not one that we're going to share." He looked over at Ellie pointedly.

"Okay, okay, fine," Ellie said, raising her hands up in surrender. "I'll just get it out of you later."

"Uh oh. Drama alert," Craig said, looking over at the door. Everyone else's eyes followed his own, where Paige and Spinner were standing.

"Dylan, I know you're angry, but we're sorry," Paige said quickly as she walked over to the table. She grabbed a chair and sat down next to the hockey player, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout. "As your little sitter, I took it upon myself to stop you from making a big mistake. I thought that if you got jealous then you'd realize how important Marco is to you. But I shouldn't have done that. And I'm sorry."

Dylan rolled his eyes. Paige was his baby sitter. It wasn't like he could just stay mad at her forever. It was impossible. "It's fine. But he," he looked over at Spinner, who was still standing at the door awkwardly, "better keep his mouth away from Marco's before I use him as a hockey puck."

As Spinner made his way over to the table slowly, Craig spit out the soda he was drinking… all over Paige's shirt. While she looked ready to smack him, Craig looked over at Spinner quickly, his eyes wide. Ellie and Jimmy looked just as shock. "You kissed Marco?!"

"Twice," Paige said, smirking slightly. "The first was pretty hot, if I do say so myself. They really got into it. Full on make out session. Well, it was hot until Dylan threw Spinner across the room, at least."

"Hey, you made me kiss him," Spinner said, looking over at Paige.

"Not like that I didn't," Paige said, getting up from her seat. "Besides, I said one kiss. Not one make out session and one 'interrupt Marco while he's pouring his heart and soul out to you' attack kiss. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home and change. Try to keep your soda in your mouth more often, Craig." She quickly left, looking disgustedly down at her wet shirt.

"You guys seriously made out?" Ellie asked, looking back and forth between Marco and Spinner. Both Spinner and Marco looked like they were about to die.

"Can we go now?" Marco asked in a pathetic voice, looking up at Dylan with miserable eyes.

"Yeah, we can." Dylan stood up from the table, Marco following suit. As they started towards the door, Dylan's phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looking at the screen, before pressing 'ignore.'

"Who was that?" Marco asked as they stepped outside.

"Just my friend from Switzerland," Dylan said, shrugging, acting like it was no big deal. "I'll call him back later."

"Oh. Okay," Marco said, sticking his hands in his pockets as he looked behind him. Of course. The officer was now leaving The Dot. Could he die now?

Dylan looked down at Marco's hands and sighed inwardly. He knew that whenever they were pocketed, Marco didn't want to hold hands, and that usually meant that Dylan did something wrong. He put an arm around Marco's shoulders, right before the younger boy pulled away from him. "Marco, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Marco said, shrugging as he looked up at Dylan. "Let's just get home. I'm beat."

"Alright," Dylan said softly. He looked up at the stars for a moment, before looking back at Marco. Just wait until he knew who was really calling Dylan.


	8. For The Love Of Darco

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note:** I have started a Degrassi Role Play Board in case anyone is interested in joining. There are still tons of characters open, and I would love, love, LOVE if someone wants to play Paige! I need my Paige. Badly. Oh. And I'm dying for a Spinner, too. _DYING_. Ack, look at that. I'm dead now. _**-dies-**_ xP (( At this moment in time Marco, Dylan, Emma and Ellie are **taken** and Darcy and Craig are **reserved**. ))

**Author's Note 2:** I know that Dylan's supposedly a brunette now, but guess what? I don't like his hair brown. So he's gonna be a blonde still. So there.

d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o d a r c o

Marco walked through his front door, sighing as he closed it behind him, his books in his hand and his laptop case hanging from his shoulder. He set the stuff down on the coffee table and sat down next to Dylan, who was currently watching a hockey game. Go figure. He closed his eyes and snuggled into his boyfriend when the blonde wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. This was exactly what he needed. So what if there was a hockey game on? Marco could block that out. Right now, all he was focused on was the calm and tranquility of being there with his boyfriend in that one moment, all his worries and stress drifting away. It was perfect.

"So, have you talked to Spinner lately?"

Okay, perfect moment gone.

Marco quickly pulled away from Dylan, raising his eyebrows at the older man. "Uh, yeah, Dylan. He's my friend. Why wouldn't I talk to him?"

"Because he has a crush on you and you don't want your jealous boyfriend beating him up?" Dylan asked innocently, shrugging.

"First of all, Spinner's straight. Second of all, you're not beating him up," Marco said, rolling his eyes as he got up off the couch. Maybe he could resume that perfect moment in their bedroom. Without Dylan. Yeah, that sounded nice.

"He didn't seem so straight when he was kissing you. Both times," Dylan said, reaching for the remote and turning the game off. He stood up after his boyfriend, crossing his arms.

"Dylan, stop, okay?" Marco said, turning around to face his boyfriend. "What's with this new jealous streak you have going? That's not like you. I mean, really, Dylan, it's _Spinner_." He walked back over to Dylan and wrapped his arms around the taller man's waist, smiling up at him. "Besides, I'm not scrounging the market for a new boyfriend. I already have the perfect one."

Dylan couldn't help but smile at that, and leaned down, planting a small kiss on the Italian's lips. "Okay."

"So, no more Spinner talk?" Marco asked, looking hopeful.

Dylan sighed and nodded, looking defeated. "No more Spinner talk." When Marco gave him an unbelieving look, Dylan smiled. "I promise."

"Good," Marco said, reaching up and kissing Dylan's cheek.

"Oh my god, you guys," Paige said as she rushed through the door. "You will not believe what just happened."

"So much for no more Spinner talk," Marco grumbled, before turning around to face his friend. "What is it, Paige?"

Paige took a moment to calm herself down, not seeming happy in the least bit. She sat down on the couch before looking up at the two, tears in her eyes. "Spinner is going crazy."

"You're just realizing this now?" Dylan asked, raising his eyebrows. Marco hit his arm, giving Dylan a look, and the blonde sighed, rolling his eyes. Sitting down next to his sister, Dylan put a hand on her shoulder, noticing how upset she clearly was. "What happened, Paige?"

"He told me that we needed to take a break for a little while," Paige said, looking down at her hands. "He said that he was confused and he needed to think about some things."

Marco's eyes were sympathetic as he looked down at his friend, sitting on the other side of her. He took one of her hands in his own, squeezing it gently. "Did he say what kind of things?"

"Marco, I think I turned my boyfriend gay," Paige said before a few tears fell and she let out a sob, covering her mouth with her other hand as she looked down. "He--He said that kissing you made him feel new things. Things that are confusing him." She swallowed hard, looking over at Marco. "Hun, Spinner thinks he has feelings for you."

"Told you so," Dylan said. Marco gave him another look. Yeah, two in less than fives minutes. It was a new record. Dylan sighed and wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders, pulling her close. "Paige, after this many years, I can tell when someone's gay. Spinner's not. Bisexual, maybe, but not gay."

"And he's in love with you," Marco added, rubbing her back. "I'm sorry that he thinks he's crushing on me, but he's going to be back with you in no time. Besides, you're willing to date him, I'm not."

"Exactly," Dylan agreed, nodding. "Remember when you first realized that you liked girls? You were confused, too. You needed time to think things over. You just have to give Spinner that same time, okay? Discovering your sexuality is a hard time. Realizing that you're not like everyone else and basically evil in the eyes of every senior citizen out there. He needs to understand that it's okay. And, unfortunately, as much as we both hate it, he needs to figure out if he really does have a crush on Marco. But don't worry about it. You two will be fighting over what movie you're going to see next in no time. Cheer up." He poked Paige in the side, causing her to squeal, laughing. Dylan grinned, and Marco smiled over at him.

"Okay, okay. I guess you guys are right," Paige said, a small smile gracing her features. "You guys are the best." She kissed each of them on the cheek, hugging them, before making her way out of the living room, heading upstairs.

"Aww, Dylan, you're the best," Marco teased, poking his boyfriend's arm as he got up off the couch.

"No, Marco, _you're_ the best," Dylan countered, following the young Italian man before wrapping his arms around his waist. He walked with Marco, his arms securely in place, as the shorter man made his way to the kitchen. When Marco stopped walking, looking horrified, Dylan looked down at him quizzically. "What?"

"Our kitchen is a total mess," Marco said, his eyes wide as he scanned the counters. In reality, it wasn't that bad. But Marco liked everything to be neat and orderly. If one thing was out of place, he freaked. Right now, the sink was half way full with dirty dishes, and a box of cereal was sitting on the counter, waiting to be put away. Marco looked like he was about to faint.

"Marco, it's not that bad," Dylan said, rolling his eyes as his boyfriend broke away from him, starting to fill the sink up with soapy water.

"Dylan, our kitchen is messier than it is when Ellie decides to make us dinner," Marco said, crossing his arms and he looked over at his boyfriend. When Dylan just rolled his eyes again, Marco shook his head and turned back to the sink, looking stressed. "I can't believe this. I have a paper I have to write for my psych class and Ellie already invited Craig over for dinner. Now the dishes need washing and--"

"Marco, stop," Dylan said, walking over to his boyfriend and leaning against the counter. "You do your paper and I'll clean the kitchen. It's no big deal. Stop stressing out for no reason."

Marco raised his eyebrows, before letting out a small chuckle. "Dylan, your idea of cleaning the kitchen is putting the dishes in the dishwasher. With food still on them."

Shrugging, Dylan looked expectantly at Marco, waiting for him to explain. When he didn't, Dylan raised his eyebrows. "So? They get clean, don't they?"

"No, you only think they get clean because I take them out and wash them by hand later on," Marco said, chuckling slightly as he turned the water off, getting ready to wash the dishes.

Dylan's mood seemed to change at this new information, and he looked crestfallen. "Oh. You never told me that."

"Of course I didn't," Marco said, turning to his boyfriend with a sympathetic look. "You seemed so proud of yourself. You liked thinking that you were helping out around the house and taking stress off of the rest of us. I didn't want to ruin that for you."

Dylan smiled slightly at his boyfriend, before sighing. "Okay. I won't put them in the dishwasher then. I'll wash them by hand. You need to go work on your paper." When Marco looked at him skeptically, Dylan rolled his eyes. "How about you do your paper in here and then you can watch me do the dishes and make sure I'm doing them right?"

Marco grinned at that, and grabbed a towel, drying his hands off. "Fine. But don't start until I'm back, okay?" When Dylan laughed at him, Marco just shook his head, leaving the kitchen. In a matter of moments he was back in the kitchen, sitting at the counter, his laptop open and ready to go.

"Alright, you do that and your wonderful _fiancé_ will wash the dishes," Dylan said, nodding.

"Good," Marco said. It took him a moment to realize what Dylan had just said, but when he finally did, he looked up at Dylan, staring at him over his laptop. His throat had suddenly gone dry. "Did you just say 'fiancé'?"

Dylan smiled, nodding. "I did."

Marco felt like he was going to faint. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. After a moment he let out a laugh, shaking his head. "Dylan, is that your way of asking me to marry you?" When Dylan shrugged, an innocent smile playing on his lips, Marco's cheeks went a dark shade of pink and he grinned widely. "Dylan --"

Dylan reached into the cookie jar and pulled out a ring box, brushing the crumbs off as he walked over to Marco. He opened it, a diamond engraved white gold ring inside. "Well, what do you say?"

Marco stared at the ring for a moment, before rubbing a hand across his face. This seemed to worry Dylan, and Marco let out a laugh, before getting up from his seat and walking around to the other side of the counter. "Yes, of course!" He practically jumped into the taller man's arms, looking like a kid who had just been told that both Halloween and Christmas were coming early that year. Because, to Marco, it was like they were.


	9. What Happened To The Happy?

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note:** My RPG is still in desperate need of Degrassi kids. For those of you who haven't rped before: if you can write a decent story, I promise that you can rp. They're not too different from each other, honestly.

**Autho's Note 2: **The ending has some Sparco. You've been warned. xx

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"I can't believe this," Marco said, grinning, as he sat next to Dylan on the couch that evening, the two watching a movie together. They were snuggling up to each other, both happier than anything in the world. Of course they were. They were freakin' engaged!

Dylan let out a laugh, pulling Marco closer to himself. "You've been saying that for the past two hours now." He planted a kiss on the top of his new fiancé's head.

"Well, I can't!" Marco exclaimed with a laugh, looking down at his left hand. He let out a little squeal, causing Dylan to laugh again. "We're getting married, Dylan!"

Dylan grinned, looking down at the younger man lovingly. "I'm aware."

"Like, wedding bells and a priest and a wedding cake and a reception and--"

"And a honeymoon," Dylan said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows at the Italian.

"Dylan!" Marco said, his face going red as he quickly looked around, making sure that no one was around to hear what the blonde had said.

"You are too cute," Dylan said, wrapping his arms around his short lover. Suddenly, Marco seemed to be lost in thought, and Dylan couldn't help but be curious about what he was thinking about. "What?"

"It has a nice ring to it," Marco said, looking up at Dylan. "Dylan Del Rossi."

"Oh no," Dylan said, shaking his head. "No, no, no. You're taking my last name."

"You're kidding me, right?" Marco asked, raising his eyebrows. "Marco Michalchuk? Dyl, that just _screams_ 'hi, come beat me up, my name is ridiculous.'"

"Oh my god, you two," Paige said as she entered the living room, rolling her eyes. "How about Dylan and Marco Del Rossi-Michalchuk?" When the two stared at her, looking at her like she was crazy, she shrugged, sitting down next to Marco. "What? It was just a suggestion."

"My hand would cramp before I finished writing it out," Marco said dryly, still staring at Paige. "You are aware that I have two middle names, right? Marco Giovanni Cristiano Del Rossi-Michalchuk? Are you _trying_ to give me carpel tunnel?"

Paige laughed, causing Dylan to reach across the Italian man and hit her on the leg. She immediately shut up, but she was still grinning. "I'm sorry. Okay, fine. One last name. Whatever."

"Dyl, I can't have the same last name as Paige," Marco said, turning back to his boyfriend. Wait. Fiancé. His fiancé. Jeez, he couldn't get enough of that! "People will think I'm just as insane as her."

"Hey!" Paige said, looking offended.

"Are you implying that people think I'm insane?" Dylan asked, grinning.

"Yes," Marco said seriously, nodding. When Dylan pushed him, Marco laughed and snuggled up to the hockey player.

Suddenly, Paige grabbed Marco's left hand, staring at the ring with a grin on her face. "So, it _wasn't_ a surprise left in the cookie jar for anyone to find." When Marco gave her a questioning look, she let go of his hand, smiling. "Nothing. Ellie just found the ring yesterday when she had a craving for something sweet. You and Dyl were gone and she yelled so loud I thought the neighbors were going to call the cops. I was upstairs, doing my nails, when suddenly I heard 'Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!' Went down to check it out, and found Ellie holding the ring."

"Why _did_ you hide it in the cookie jar, Dylan?" Marco asked, looking over at his boyfriend.

"Well, I knew that was the one place you wouldn't look," Dylan said, shrugging.

Marco stared at him for a moment before speaking. "Are you implying that I'm fat?" Paige seemed to sense that this was going to get heated and quickly left the two to argue.

"No!" Dylan said quickly, his eyes going wide as he started to panic. "No, no, no! I wasn't implying that at all!"

Marco pulled away from the blonde, crossing his arms as he narrowed his eyes at him. "Then why wouldn't I look there?"

"Well, you always go on about how you're afraid of the rumors of the Freshman Fifteen. I knew that you were trying to avoid it, so I figured you wouldn't be eating any cookies…" Dylan explained pathetically, hoping that Marco would just go with it. Unfortunately for him, he didn't.

"So you're saying I've done a bad job and I'm fat?" Marco asked.

"Marco, I think you're the most attractive thing my eyes have ever seen," Dylan said, before sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. "Please, can we not argue? We just got engaged. I'm sorry. I wasn't implying that you're fat."

Marco seemed to accept this and sighed, nodding. "Alright," he said before snuggling back up against his boyfriend. Dylan was lucky that he was cute.

The two sat there for a little while, watching TV and holding each other. Neither of them could really believe that after all this time, after so much drama between the two, so much angst, they were finally getting married. They were finally going to let the whole world know about how much they loved each other and how committed they were to each other. The adorable duo had watched two episodes of _General Hospital_ (because Marco taped them and decided that he couldn't go any longer without it) before the shorter man started moving around a bit on the couch, seeming to not be comfortable anymore. Dylan put up with it, until Marco started squirming for the third time.

Sighing, Dylan pulled his arm away from Marco, raising his eyebrows at the Italian. "What?"

Marco opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to think better of it. He just shook his head and leaned back against the couch, shrugging. "Nothing."

"Marco." Dylan gave Marco a look. He wasn't letting him off the hook that easy.

"Dyl, there's just so much to plan," Marco said, looking over at his own personal blonde wonder. "Between work and school and my mom's incessant need to cook dinner for all of us, plus all the drama everyone likes to bring into our house, it's going to be a lot of hard work."

Dylan seemed to take Marco's complaints the wrong way and frowned, looking a bit hurt. "Are you saying that you don't want to get married?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying!" Marco said quickly, sitting up immediately as he did so. "Of course I want to marry you, Dylan. I love you." That earned him a smile and a kiss on the cheek. Marco smiled softly, shrugging. "It's just going to be a lot of hard work. It's going to take a lot of time and planning. And you know how I get when I have to plan stuff. I'm going to stress myself out and probably forget something and double check everything and--"

"Marco, you're _already_ stressing yourself out," Dylan said, looking a little amused. "Calm down. We just got engaged today. Be happy about that and worry about all the wedding stuff later. I mean, if it'll make you feel better, we could always elope." At the look Marco gave him, Dylan felt compelled to poke his future husband in the side, causing Marco to giggle a bit. "It was a joke," Dylan said, shaking his head, though he was smiling.

"It was a bad one," Marco said, rolling his eyes, though he was also sporting a small smile. "My parents would kill me if they weren't there." His eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh my god. My parents! Dylan, how am I going to tell my dad?" He seemed to start hyperventilating, freaking himself out.

"Marco, relax!" Dylan said, rubbing the younger man's back as Marco put his head between his knees, trying to calm himself down. "I'm sure your dad will be happy for you. And, if not, then who cares? All that matters is you and me, right? This is about us, not your dad."

After a few moments, Marco seemed to have gotten himself under control, and looked up at Dylan. "He just got out of the hospital! Do you want me to send him back with a heart attack?"

"Marco, I thought your father knew about us."

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that we're engaged. Dylan, that's going to be completely different! This is going to be moving way too fast for him. It took him forever to get over the fact that I'm gay, and, while he seemed okay about us dating, marriage is a completely different battlefield. I mean, for all we know, he could be forcing this whole thing about being fine with us. And if he is, then he's going to lose it when he finds out that we're going to get married." Marco ran a hand through his hair, looking stressed beyond belief. This wasn't good.

"Marco--"

"We're here!" Ellie announced as she walked through the door. She immediately froze in place, Craig standing behind her, when she realized that she had just interrupted something between the two. "Um… we're just going to… go upstairs… or something." She pushed Craig up the stairs, but didn't get very far.

When Craig noticed the ring on Marco's hand, his eyes went wide, and he pushed past his girlfriend, walking into the living room. "You guys got engaged?! That's huge!" He sat down next to Marco, all smiles.

Marco and Dylan couldn't help but smile at this too, and the Italian surrendered his hand as Ellie quickly made her way over, grinning as she looked at the ring. "It looks even better on your finger, Marco."

"Thanks, Ellie," Marco said, laughing as he took his hand back, once again snuggling against his boyfriend.

"You've already started freaking out about plans, haven't you?"

"Ah, Ellie, you know me too well," Marco said, smiling slightly.

"Well, don't," Ellie said, looking disapproving. "Marco, you two just got engaged. Besides, I'm sure Paige would love to help you pick out flowers and centerpieces or whatever."

"Oh, that sounds so exciting," Paige said, rushing into the room. "Marco, we have to get right on that. I mean, think about it. And then we can pick out your guys' cake, too, and caterer, and don't forget picking your best men… or… people?" Her last word was hopeful, as if implying that she could be Marco's best person.

"Hey, if anyone's going to be Marco's best person, it's going to be me," Ellie said, crossing her arms as she looked over at Paige. "You can be Dylan's best person."

"Um, no, you can be Dylan's best person," Paige said, narrowing her eyes at the red head.

"You know Dylan better than I do."

"Well… so?"

"I've known Marco longer than you."

"I've known Marco plenty long."

"But I've been friends with him longer than you. Besides, who was the first person he told about him being gay?"

"Because you wanted to make out with him!"

"So? I was the one who pretended to be his girlfriend!"

"And I'm the one who listened to Dylan talk about him non-stop when they first started going out!"

"Oh yeah? Well, guess who Marco talked about Dylan to non-stop? Me!"

"I've so been hanging out with him more than you lately! I get to be his best person!"

"That is so not true!" Ellie let out a frustrated groan, shaking her head. "Marco, who are you going to pick as your best person?"

Marco's eyes went wide at the question, looking back and forth between his expectant friends. "Uh…"

"Well?" Paige asked, crossing her arms. "Spit it out."

"Er…"

"Marco!" Ellie said, throwing out her hands, looking expectant.

"Well…"

"Guys--" Dylan started.

"Craig," Marco said quickly. He cleared his throat a bit before nodding. "Craig will be my best person… I mean man."

Both Ellie and Paige looked quite pissed off at this, and got to their feet, storming out of the room. They realized they were going the same way and huffed, before Ellie went out the door and Paige went upstairs.

Craig watched the two leave, clearly amused, before turning to Marco. "I vote that you two don't have best people."

"I second that," Dylan said, nodding.

Marco looked a bit unsure. But as soon as he heard Paige's door slam, he nodded. "Yeah, that works. No best people."

"Woah, what's up with Ellie?" Spinner asked, walking into the house. "She's totally pissed about something." He walked into the room, but stopped in his tracks at the look Dylan was giving him. "Um… Marco, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"No," Dylan said, before turning back to the TV, looking pissed.

Marco rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Spin. You can." It took him a moment to get out of Dylan's arms, the older man refusing to let him go talk to the evil boyfriend stealer, but successfully got up off the couch, leaving Craig and Dylan to watch whatever.

The two walked into the kitchen, trying to get away from Dylan's curious eyes, before Spinner finally decided to speak up. "Marco, you really have to help me here. Please." He looked desperate, and Marco couldn't help but worry.

"Spinner, what's wrong?" Marco asked, the concern evident in his expression.

"Marco, I don't know if I'm straight. I mean, I love Paige, but I also like you. I just… I'm supposed to be straight, Marco. I'm not supposed to like guys. I'm not supposed to be… different." Spinner sat down at the kitchen table and sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"Spin, you're not," Marco said, sitting down next to him. "You love Paige. That's good. Go with that. But you can allow yourself to have feelings for guys. So what if you're bisexual? That's fine. It doesn't make anyone think any less of you."

"It makes _me_ think less of me," Spinner said, looking up at Marco, feeling lost.

"It shouldn't," Marco said softly, swallowing hard. He really wanted to help Spinner realize that this wasn't a bad thing, but he didn't know how. Spinner was so set on not liking it. "Do you hate liking me?"

Spinner seemed to take a moment to think about this, choosing his words carefully. "Well… No… But--"

"Then just go with that," Marco said, shrugging. "I'm a guy, Spin. If you don't hate liking me, then you shouldn't hate liking any other guy out there."

"You're different, though," Spinner said quietly, looking down at the table. When Marco put a hand on his shoulder, Spinner looked up, before closing the gap between them, his lips against Marco.

Marco quickly pulled away, shaking his head. "Spinner, I can't. I'm engaged."

Spinner seemed to crumble at this, and swallowed hard. "Oh." He quickly got up from his seat, looking heartbroken.

Marco got up after him. "Spinner--"

"I hope you enjoy your life with Dylan," Spinner said bitterly, before storming out the door, slamming it behind him.

Marco sighed and stared at the door for a moment, before looking into the living room. Craig looked shocked, while Dylan looked quite amused and happy about it. Marco shook his head at his fiancé before heading up the stairs. What a jerk.


	10. The Day Dylan's World Died

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note:** My RPG is still in desperate need of Degrassi kids. For those of you who haven't rped before: if you can write a decent story, I promise that you can rp. They're not too different from each other, honestly.

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"Marco, we have a serious problem," Paige said as she walked into Dylan and Marco's room a couple days later, their cell phone bill in her hand.

Marco looked up from his laptop as he sat at his desk and raised his eyebrows, wondering what was so important that she couldn't knock. Not that it would matter, Dylan had gone grocery shopping with Ellie anyway (Marco would have gone, but he had an assignment to finish). But, still. They could've gotten home early. And then what? Paige could've walked in on something that she really wouldn't have wanted to walk in on. Then again, they usually lock the door. Never mind.

"Is the phone bill that bad?" Marco said, raising his eyebrows as a small smile made its way onto his smooth Italian lips.

"No, no, it's fine," Paige said waving that off. She grabbed a chair and placed it next to Marco's, pointing out a few numbers. "I know that number, Marco. I _called_ that number while Dylan was in Switzerland."

Marco took the bill from her and looked over the information. The calls had been coming in for Dylan, and he even called that number a few times. "So? It must be his friend from the hockey team."

"Marco, no," Paige said, shaking her head. "It's his coach's number."

Raising her eyebrows, Marco looked back at the number. He suddenly felt hurt for being lied to by Dylan. "But… why would he need to keep in contact with him? And why would he lie about it?" When his friend didn't answer his question, he raised his eyebrows at her. "Paige."

"I don't know," Paige said sighing as she stood up. The sound of the front door closing met their ears, and she crossed her arms. "I suggest we ask Dylan."

Nodding, Marco got up after her and the two made their way down the hall, and down the stairs. They were greeted with Dylan and Ellie unpacking bags, setting things on the counter in the kitchen.

Dylan smiled at his fiancé and walked over to him, bending down to kiss him on the cheek. But when he did, Marco pulled away. The hockey player frowned, hurt and confused. "What's wrong?"

Marco held the cell phone bill out to Dylan, shoving it in his face. "Why have you been calling your coach from Zurich?"

Oh no. Dylan instantly knew he had been caught, and he automatically felt guilty. He couldn't lie his way out of this one. He sighed, shrugging. "Well, sweetie, I never said that my break was permanent. I never said that I wouldn't go back."

"Uh oh," Ellie said, looking over at Paige. The blonde nodded and the two quickly left the room, leaving the other two to work this out.

"What??" Marco looked absolutely pissed off. He glared at Dylan, shaking his head. "If you were just going to leave me again, then why the hell did you ask me to marry you?"

"Because I love you," Dylan said, his eyes pleading as he looked down at his short lover. He hoped that Marco would accept that and not be mad at him. Boy, what was he thinking?

"If you loved me you wouldn't be leaving me again!" Marco yelled before turning on his heel, storming up the stairs.

"Marco, you told me to leave. You told me to chase my dreams!" Dylan said, sighing as he made his way after the Italian.

Marco immediately turned, half way up the stairs as he crossed his arms, his eyes still narrowed at the blonde. "Yeah, Dylan. I want you to chase your dreams. I'm not mad that you're leaving. I'm mad that you didn't tell me! I'm mad that you lied to me about who was calling! I'm mad that you proposed to me without even thinking about how being engaged to you and being so far away from you at the same time would affect me!"

"Marco, I'm sorry," Dylan said softly, swallowing hard. "I should have told you. I know that. Okay?"

"No, it's not okay!" Marco yelled, before pushing past Dylan and walking into the living room and turning off the TV that Paige had left on earlier. He turned back to his fiancé, who had followed him, and shook his head. "You made me feel like crap before, Dylan. You told me that you gave up everything for me. You made me feel like a burden. And now I find out that you made me want to die for no reason! You lied! You didn't give up a damn thing for me!"

"That's not true!" Dylan yelled back, then realized that it was a stupid thing to do. He probably shouldn't fight back in this argument. He was the one at fault.

"Oh yeah? What did you give up for me?" Marco asked, raising his eyebrows as he crossed his arms.

"I made a deal with my coach before I left, okay? I told him what was going on and he agreed to let me leave for a few months. I'm missing games for you, Marco. Games that could've determined the rest of my career."

"Oh, excuse me!" Marco yelled, shaking his head. "My bad! I didn't realize your games were more important than me!"

"They're not! That's why I came back!" Dylan yelled back. He let out a frustrated groan and shook his head. "Marco, I don't want to fight with you. Okay?"

"Well, too bad!" Marco took a step towards his fiancé, and quickly pulled the engagement ring off his finger. "If you're leaving me, then you're leaving this." He grabbed Dylan's hand and put the ring in his finger before walking past him, towards the stairs.

"Marco, don't do this," Dylan said softly, turning to his boyfriend.

Marco paused in his spot, before sighing and shaking his head, turning around. "I'm sorry, Dylan. We've dealt with too much since you've been home. We've been fighting about everything lately. And if you're not willing to stay and fix that, then we shouldn't get married."

Dylan swallowed hard and looked down at the ring in his hand. He then looked up at the young Italian man, hurt showing in his eyes.

"Well?"

"Marco, I can't give this up," Dylan said softly as he took a step towards Marco. "If we don't stay engaged, are we still together?"

Marco gave Dylan an incredulous look, staring at him like he was crazy. "Dylan! No!" A new found surge of anger coursed throughout his body, and he shook his head. "Leave then! We're through!" He started back towards the stairs.

"Marco--"

"Go!!" Marco didn't even bother to look back at Dylan, and made his way up to the top of the stairs. Mostly because he didn't want the blonde to see the tears in his eyes.

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"Marco, what ever happened to your body guard?" Paige asked as she sat at the dining room table that night with the Italian and the red head.

"Um, they called her off a few days ago," Marco said, clearly distracted as he stared down at his chicken breast, picking at the food with his fork.

"You know, hon, Dylan's really upset," Paige said, giving Marco a sympathetic look. "My mom called me a little while ago telling me how Dylan wouldn't stop crying." When Marco looked up at her, she shrugged. "My brother doesn't cry, Marco. He's strong. He refuses to. But he's crying over you. Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"Paige, don't," Marco said, sighing as he rubbed a hand over his face, shaking his head. "He's leaving. His dream of being a hockey player is more important than his dream of being my husband."

"You know that's not true," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "It's just, Marco, hockey won't always be there."

"Yeah?" Marco looked up at Paige and shrugged, getting up from the table. "Well, neither will I."

Ellie grabbed Marco's arm, not wanting him to leave the table. "Marco--" She immediately let go when Marco winced. "Marco, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Marco said quickly, shrugging.

The two girls looked at each other for a moment before Ellie grabbed Marco's arm and pulled up his sleeve, revealing a few cuts across the Italian's olive skin. She immediately pulled her hand back, her eyes wide. "Marco, I thought you were done with this."

"Is it because of Dylan?" Paige asked softly. When Marco nodded, she got up from her seat and walked over to him, wrapping an arm around her friend. "I'll tell him and then he'll have to stay."

"No, Paige," Marco said, shaking his head. "No. Dylan made up his mind. I don't want him coming back to me because he pities me."

"Hon, he doesn't pity you. He loves you. That's why he would stay," Paige said, shrugging. "He needs you just as much as you need him, you know."

"I doubt that," Marco said, shaking his head. "But, you know what? From now on I'm a Dylan-free Marco."

"Let's just not tell Spinner that," Ellie said, smirking slightly. At the look Marco and Paige gave her, she shrugged. "Sorry. You guys really need to learn how to take a joke."

Suddenly someone yelling "Marco, open up!" was followed by a loud bang on the front door. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.

Marco looked at his two friends, pulling down his sleeve, before making his way over to the door, opening it up. "Pa, what's--"

"Spinner told us something," Mrs. Del Rossi said from behind her husband, looking scared and worried as she stood there on the front porch.

Without warning, Mr. Del Rossi grabbed Marco's arm and pulled up his sleeve. When the cuts confirmed what he had been told, he looked back at his wife, who had tears streaming down her face. "Marco, why would you do this? Why would you hurt yourself?"

Marco didn't know what to say. Spinner had told them? Why would he do that? Really, it wasn't out of concern for his friend. Marco knew that. Was Spinner really _that_ pissed off that Marco had rejected him? The guy wasn't even sure about his sexuality yet! Besides, rejecting him wasn't as bad as what he had done. Spinner had told his parents! Marco couldn't help but hate his friend at the moment. "I just…"

"Let's go for walk," Mrs. Del Rossi said, looking at her son through teary eyes. "Please?"

"Uh… Yeah," Marco said, nodding. He grabbed his jacket and looked over at Paige and Ellie, who both looked really worried. He shrugged slightly and followed his parents out of the house. He couldn't believe this was happening.

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After Marco had told him to leave, Dylan had been upset. He had been an emotional wreck, and couldn't make himself stop crying. Driving over to his parents' house had been fairly dangerous, since he seemed to almost get into a wreck every five seconds because he couldn't make out anything from behind his tears. But he had managed to get there in one piece, surprisingly enough, and had cried to his mom about the whole thing for hours.

But that was then. That felt like a whole different time. A time when Dylan was trying to get over losing the one person that had mattered most to him the world. The one person he knew he could always call when he was upset or angry. Someone that loved him as much as he loved them. At least, he did.

Dylan had been grieving for his lost relationship with the young Italian man, but now he was praying for a miracle. A miracle that would save Marco.

He still remembered the phone call.

_"Dylan, your sister's on the phone for you," Mrs. Michalchuk called out from the living room as Dylan sat on his old bed, staring at photos of him and Marco that he had kept there. Some to humor his parents, most of them because both and him Marco had copies and it wouldn't make sense to have two of one picture hanging up on their wall._

_Dylan sighed and got up off his bed, reaching for his phone. "I got it!" When he heard his mother hang up on the other line, he rubbed a hand across his face. What now? "What do you want, Paige?"_

_"Marco's in the hospital, Dylan. He's hurt bad."_

That was the phone call that changed everything. That was the phone call that made Dylan stop crying. The one that had scared him to death. Now he was sitting in the waiting room, waiting for someone to come tell him what was going on. He hated this. He really, really hated this.

As Paige walked into the room, Dylan looked up at her, an expectant look on his face. "Paige, what happened? What's going on?"

Paige swallowed hard and sat down in a chair next to her brother, sighing. There were tears in her eyes, and she opened her mouth to tell him, but found that she started sobbing instead. Dylan immediately wrapped his arms around his little sister, rocking her back and forth. "Someone shot him, Dylan! Someone shot him in the chest!"

That's when Dylan's world died.


	11. He's My Fiancé

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note:** My RPG is still in desperate need of Degrassi kids. For those of you who haven't rped before: if you can write a decent story, I promise that you can rp. They're not too different from each other, honestly.

**Author's Note 2: **Please check out my story notes for both Catch Me and its sequel on my profile page. xx

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Dylan walked into Marco's room, his heart breaking as he took in the image of his love laying on the bed, unmoving, his eyes closed, machines all around him keeping him alive and helping him breathe. Dylan hated this. He hated seeing Marco like this. The Italian had so much more going for him. He meant so much more to the world then to deserve this. Dylan just wanted to lay down on Marco's bed with him and wrap his arms around the shorter man. He wanted to whisper sweet nothings into his ear and hope that, wherever Marco was, he could hear him. Dylan wanted to be with him. He wanted to wake him up. He wanted to kiss him and hold him and never, ever let him go again. He wanted to be important enough for Marco to wake up for him.

It hadn't taken long for Dylan to figure out what had happened when Marco got shot. Apparently the Italian had been taking a walk with his parents when people started shooting at them out of the blue. The police suspected that it was the same people that had trashed the Del Rossi home and left that terrible note. They had wanted to kill Marco. And that made Dylan want to find them and murder them. No one touched his Marco. _No one._

"Dylan, can I talked to you for a second?"

Dylan turned around and looked over at the doorway, where Paige was standing. He nodded and put up a finger, signaling to give him a minute. The blonde then walked over to his unconscious lover, placing a soft kiss on the Italian's forehead. He brushed Marco's bangs out of his face, staring down at his angelic features. It was amazing. He looked so at peace. So perfect. He probably didn't even realize he had major surgery a week before to take a bullet out of his chest. "Don't wake up before I come back, Marco. I want the first face you see to be mine," he whispered, before rubbing Marco's cheek with his thumb. "But you will come back to me, you hear? You will. You have to." After placing another kiss on the olive skin, he turned back to his sister, and followed her out of the room.

"Dylan, Spinner wants to see Marco," Paige said, looking uncertainly at her brother.

"Paige--"

"Just hear me out, okay? Marco is one of his best friends. He's really worried about him," Paige said, her eyes pleading. "He just wants to see him for a little while. To talk to him and apologize to him. Dylan, he might not have any other chance."

"Don't say that!" Dylan yelled, glaring down at his sister. "Don't say that we won't be able to talk to Marco again! You don't know that!"

"Dylan, the doctors said--"

"Screw the fucking doctors!" Dylan punched the wall out of frustration, causing many people in the hall to look over at him. He didn't care. Let them stare. Fucking people didn't even give a shit about Marco anyway. "They don't know Marco like I do! He's going to pull through this, Paige! It's only been a week! Have a little faith!"

"I do have faith," Paige said quietly, looking down at the ground as tears came to her eyes. "But, Dyl…" Swallowing hard, she slowly looked up at her brother. "The bullet was inches away from his heart. It's a miracle he didn't bleed to death within the first few minutes. It's a miracle he survived surgery. It's a miracle he didn't die in the first couple hours after they closed him up. Marco's strong, I know that. But the chances of him pulling out of this are slim. I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Don't you think I know what his chances are?" Dylan spat, his words angry and bitter. "He's my fucking fiancé, Paige. He--"

"No, he's not," Paige said, shaking her head. "He dumped you because you lied to him and then wanted to abandon him. Again. He's not your fiancé. Not anymore."

Dylan glared at his little sister, taking a step towards her. "He _is_ my fiancé, Paige. You and I both know that we would've gotten back together. You and I both know that I would've done something to make things right with Marco. You and I both know that our break up wouldn't have lasted any longer than either of us would have wanted it to. _You and I both know that he's my fiancé._"

Paige sighed and shook her head, deciding not the press the topic any further. It was pissing Dylan off anyway. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, before looking through the doorway, over at the unconscious Marco. "Dylan, Marco's family doesn't believe in artificial life. His uncle--"

"No," Dylan said quickly, shaking his head. "No. They're not pulling the plug, Paige. It's barely been a week. They can't do that. They can't just give up on him. Marco's special. Marco's important. They have to keep him alive, Paige. They have to want him to be around."

"His uncle is coming by tomorrow to sign some papers," Paige said softly, looking down at the floor. "I don't want him to do it any more than you do, but--"

"Then why are you letting him?!" Dylan yelled, before punching the wall again. He walked into Marco's room and slammed the door behind him, locking it. No one was going to take Marco away from him. If Paige wasn't going to fight it, then he would. Marco wasn't going to die. Like hell.

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"He just doesn't seem to understand that this is hard for us, too," Paige said as she sat in the waiting room with the rest of the gang some odd minutes later. She sighed and forced back the tears that were threatening to fall. She couldn't cry. She couldn't break down. She had to be strong for everyone else around her. She had to be strong for her friends.

"He loves him," Craig said simply, shrugging, though he looked just as lost as the rest of the group.

"And we don't?" Ellie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"We all love Marco, guys," Jimmy said, looking around at his friends' faces. "And Dylan has a point. It's barely been a week."

"Well, what are we supposed to do about it?" Ashley asked, looking over at her boyfriend. "With Marco's parents gone, his uncle has the right to make this decision. We can't fight it."

"But we _can_ let him know how important Marco is to us," Spinner said, an idea already forming in his head. "We can't fight him on the matter, but if he know how loved Marco was, how many people are fighting for him to pull through and wake up, then maybe he would change his mind."

"Are you listening to yourselves?" Paige asked, looking around at the group. "Do you guys not realize how serious Marco's injuries are?"

"Of course we do," Ellie said, narrowing her eyes a bit at the blonde. "He could die, Paige. There's a very high chance that he will. And we know that. But Marco's our friend and we're not going to give up on him. Why are you?"

"I'm just being realistic," Paige said softly, shaking her head. "Do you know how many people pull through after an injury like this? Not many. I don't think we should get our hopes up. Because they're going to get crushed and then his death is going to hit us harder than it would if we clung to the possibility of him being okay."

"Yeah? Well, that's a risk we're willing to take," Spinner said, shaking his head at Paige as he stood up. "I'm going to go see Marco."

"Wait, Spin, Dylan really doesn't want you in there," Paige said quickly. When Spinner didn't turn around, she shrugged, sighing. "Fine. It's your funeral."

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"We need to fight him."

Dylan turned around as he sat in the chair next to Marco's bed, finding that Spinner was standing in the doorway. He really hated that guy right now. But Paige was right. He was Marco's friend. The Italian would want him there, even if Dylan didn't. "Fight who?"

Spinner took this as a sign that Dylan wasn't going to break him in half and stepped further into the room, walking slowly. "Marco's uncle. We need to show him that a lot of people are fighting for Marco. That a lot of people love him and want him to get better. I mean, dude, it's a proven fact that people who have family and friends around them constantly while they're in a coma make it out better than people who don't. Marco has enough positive vibes heading his way. I know he'll be okay."

Nodding, Dylan looked back at Marco, and squeezed his hand tightly. "You hear that? You have to wake up and prove to your uncle that love and care from friends and family can outweigh anything. You need to prove to him that you're strong and that you can make it on your own. Please. Not just for me, and not just for all your friends that are in the waiting room, but for yourself."

"I talked to Paige and Ellie," Spinner said quietly, leaning against the wall, his eyes never leaving the unconscious Italian. "When Marco wakes up, they think that you should be the one to tell him about his parents. He'll take it better from you."

Dylan nodded in agreement, and looked back at his short lover, pushing some of his dark bangs back as he stared into his eyes. Marco had to wake up. He just had to.


	12. Uncle Louie

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note:** My RPG is still in desperate need of Degrassi kids. For those of you who haven't rped before: if you can write a decent story, I promise that you can rp. They're not too different from each other, honestly.

**Author's Note 2: **Please check out my story notes for both Catch Me and its sequel on my profile page. xx

**Author's Note 3:** If this chapter sucks in any way, I'm terribly sorry. I think I caught some sort of 24 hour flu or something from my roomie. Her stomach was in knots yesterday, and now mine is today. So I'm writing this between spells of nausea and hot flashes. Fun fun! x.x Canada Dry is my best friend right now. Aside from my roomie, of course, who drove all over town to find an open place that actually carried it, lol!

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"Well, what if we petitioned to have Marco kept on life support?" Spinner asked as the gang sat in the living room Del Rossi/Michalchuk/Nash abode, all trying to decide how to keep Marco's uncle from pulling the plug. Marco was the center of their group, the one who always toned down the drama and helped everyone out. They couldn't just let something happen to him. Not when he was always there for them.

"That's not going to do anything," Ashley said, sighing. "Yeah, it'd show his uncle how much we care about Marco, but legally? It's useless."

"Well, we can't just give up. There has to be _something_ we can do," Ellie said, looked down as she started to play with one of the loose threads on the couch.

"There is. We can stop him from coming near Marco," Paige said simply, nodding.

"Yeah, but _how_?" Jimmy asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I say we tackle him and tie him up. He can't very well sign the papers when he's locked in a closet, now can he?" Spinner said, a mad glint in his eye as he grinned slightly.

Paige raised her eyebrows, giving Spinner and incredulous look. "Spin… just… no."

"Has anyone talked to Dylan lately?" Ellie asked, looking a bit worried.

"No. He's not answering his cell phone," Paige said, sighing slightly. "He refuses to leave Marco's side. I swear, if Marco's uncle suddenly shows up out of the blue, then _he's_ going to be the one needing a doctor. Dylan's only left the hospital once. To grab his hockey stick. I'm afraid he's going to get himself arrested or something."

"Love can make a person do crazy things," Craig said, shrugging.

"Like beating down the person who wants to take the love of your life away from you," Paige said, nodding.

"We weren't doing Marco any good sitting around the waiting room, but we're not doing him any good sitting around the living room, either. I think we should go back," Ellie said, looking around the small group.

"Marco would want us to live, not sit around worrying about him," Ashley said softly.

"I say we go shopping then. I mean, really. Marco loved shopping. And what better way to send him good vibes than to go buy him some really cute stuff?" Paige said, smiling, trying to cheer up her friends.

"You just want that cute top you saw a few weeks ago," Ellie said, rolling her eyes.

"Well… yeah. But, really, maybe if we go buy a whole bunch of 'Get Well' stuff and decorate Marco's room a bit, then he'll be more tempted to wake up and yell at us about our crappy taste in décor," Paige said, shrugging.

"Hey, the girl has a point. It's better than just sitting and worrying. I'm sure that our nervous vibes are some how reaching Marco. We're making him nervous, not happy. Maybe if we shop a bit, then he'll know and want to wake up so he can go shopping with us," Ashley said, a small, partially forced, smile upon her face.

"You girls go do that. I have to get back to the shop," Jimmy said, before looking over at Spinner.

"Yeah, what he said."

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"Dylan, hon, you really should go home and get some rest," Paige said a few hours later, putting a hand on Dylan's shoulder as he poured sugar in his coffee in the cafeteria at the hospital. Her, Ashley, Ellie and Craig had already decorated Marco's room, the latter of the four being dragged along by his girlfriend when he couldn't come up with an excuse not to help.

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Paige, I have been getting rest."

"I meant in a bed, moron. Not an uncomfortable hospital chair," the younger Michalchuk stated, crossing her arms.

"I'm not leaving Marco," Dylan said simply as he started out of the cafeteria, back towards his lover's room.

"Dylan—"

"Paige, no. What if his uncle stops by? I have to be here to stop him from killing Marco."

"You're being _way_ too over-dramatic about the whole thing. He's not going to _kill_ Marco. Even if he took him off life support, Marco would have a chance. He won't just _die_, Dylan." Paige stepped in front of her brother, blocking his path. "Please, just go home. For a few hours, at least."

"No."

"Dylan."

"Paige."

"Dylan."

"Paige."

"Dylan."

"I'm not leaving."

Paige sighed and rubbed her temples, trying to stave off the impending headache that she could feel coming on. "Dylan, think about it. What would Marco say if he knew that you were here constantly? He'd want you to stop worrying about him and do something resourceful with your time. Preferably go clean up all the messes you left at the house searching for your hockey stick."

"It's not my fault Marco hid it."

"You pissed him off by choosing hockey over him. It is your fault."

"Paige—"

"What would make Marco happier than anything when he woke up?"

"To be engaged to me?"

"No. He's probably still pissed at you," Paige said, smirking slightly. "He'd love it if he knew that we didn't totally destroy the house while he was in the hospital. Go clean. It'll get you at least partially in his good graces. Unless you clean stuff the wrong way. Then that'd probably just make him mad. But he's still love that you tried. So go home, take a shower—please, please, _please_ take a shower soon—and clean up the house for when Marco wakes up."

"But—"

"No. No buts. If Marco's uncle comes by, I'll call you, okay? I promise."

Dylan sighed and nodded, looking down at his cup of coffee temporarily. Paige was right. Marco wouldn't want him to waste his time just sitting and doing nothing. He'd want Dylan to do something productive. And what better way to make Marco happy than to clean the house spotless? Marco was a neat freak; he'd definitely appreciate it, if nothing else. Dylan looked back up at Paige and nodded, sighing slightly. "Yeah, alright, fine. I'll go. But only for a few hours."

"Good. We don't need you in the hospital too, you know. At this rate, you'll likely pass out from starvation and exhaustion." Paige then leaned up and kissed her brother's cheek, before pushing him down the hallway. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, walking towards the elevator. "And take a shower!" she called after him.

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"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. You can't do this, alright? You can't," Paige said as Spinner stood in the doorway to Marco's room, refusing entry to the older Italian gentleman. Uncle Louie was goin _down_.

"I have not done anything yet. Marco is good boy (1). I just want to see my _nipote_," Louie said, crossing his arms and he stared down at Spinner; the younger of the two was starting to look a little nervous, but didn't back down.

"Well, your _nipote_ is a little busy at the moment. Not that you care. You just want to pull the plug. You want to take Marco's life away from him," Spinner said, glaring at the older man.

"If Marco is meant to live, he will live. Trust fate," Louie said simply, shrugging.

"How can you just stand there and accept the fact that if you take Marco off life support, he might die?" Paige asked, staring at the man. Was he really so heartless?

"Right now, Marco is not in the hands of fate. _We_ are deciding if he is going to live or die. We cannot play God."

"We can't let him die," Spinner growled, taking a step towards the man, against his better judgement of the situation.

"I go sign papers now. If you do not trust Marco to be strong, then say goodbye," Louie said before turning.

Unfortunately, Spinner didn't seem to accept this and yelled out, before tackling the overweight man to the floor. "You're not going to sign those fucking papers, do you hear me?! Marco is one of my best friends and I'll damned if I let you kill him!"

"Spinner, stop!" Paige yelled, trying to pull him off Louie as a couple security guards made their way towards the two on the floor. "You're going to get us kicked out!"

"What's going on here?"

Paige looked up from Spinner and Louie immediately, ignoring the fact that the security guards seemed to have taken action a little quicker than she had realized, and was pulling Spinner off the Italian man. "Dylan! Oh… Umm… How's the house?"

Dylan crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes as his sister. "It's clean. Why didn't you call me when he got here?"

"Because I was trying to save the love of your life. Do you have a problem with that?" Paige asked, imitating her brother and also crossing her arms.

"Paige, you said you'd call me as soon—"

"I know I did, Dylan, and I'm sorry. I was just trying to talk him out of it. Alright?" Paige asked, looking a little desperate.

"Wait. Love of your life?" Louie asked, now up from the ground, with a little help of one of the security guards. The other was now pulling a kicking and screaming Spinner down the hallway.

"Umm. You know what? We'll let Marco talk to you about that," Paige said, nodding.

"No," Dylan said, shaking his head as he looked back at Louie. "I love your nephew. A lot. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Before him, I was incomplete. I didn't know what life was about. And then I met Marco. From the moment I saw him, sir, I knew that our futures were going to be intertwined. I knew that he was going to end up being the one for me. And through these years, we've had our problems, yeah, but what couple doesn't? Marco brings out the best in me. He's my complete opposite, but I love him, and I couldn't imagine life without him. Please don't take him away from me. I'm begging you."

"I will leave it to fate," Louie said simply before starting towards the nurse's station. He called a few words back, not bothering to look at the two Michalchuks. "I sign papers now. Go see Marco."

Paige looked over at Dylan as her older brother looked over at the room, tears in his eyes. No way. This could _not_ be happening.

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"It's been three hours," Paige said softly, looking down at the ground as she leaned against the wall in Marco's room, across from his bed.

"Well, he's still alive," Jimmy said, looking over at her. "He still has time to wake up."

"But what if he doesn't?" Ellie asked sadly, sitting on the floor next to Paige's feet. "It's been three hours since they've taken him off of life support, and he still isn't awake. That's a bad sign, right? I mean… It must be."

"No, no. He'll wake up," Dylan said, looking over at the girls. He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince more; them, or himself. "We just have to give him time." The blonde looked back at his short lover, brushing some of Marco's short hair out of his face. "Come on, baby. Open your eyes for us. Please. We need you to open your eyes." The group waited for a moment, but when nothing happened, sighs couple be heard around the room.

Dylan put his head in his hands, tears coming to his eyes. If Marco didn't wake up soon, he was going to die. Dylan didn't want that to happen. That _couldn't_ happen. But just as Paige pushed herself off the wall to go comfort her brother, a voice broke through.

"Dylan?"

Marco was awake.

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(1) I know Uncle Louie's grammar is a little off, but I figured that since Marco's parents' grammar isn't perfect, his shouldn't be, either. So yes. That's why it's odd.


	13. Darco Forever

**Disclaimer**: If I owned Degrassi, the show would revolve around Darco. And since Dylan's barely ever on it, much less it having a lot of Darco-based plots, I don't own it. Boo.

**Flames: **Are not welcome. No matter what you say about my story, I'll never change it. So don't bother.

**Author's Note**: Yeah, yeah, this chapter took _**forever**_ to get up! Sorry, I got a life. lmfao.

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"Dylan?"

Dylan looked up from his hands immediately, praying that this wasn't some sick joke. He was sure that he was going to wake up from a dream any moment now. Because this couldn't be real. For the past week, a few days over actually, Dylan had been dreaming of his Marco coming back to him. For Marco to wake up and be with him again. If Marco hadn't made it, Dylan would have gone crazy. But Marco was awake. He was alive. It was a miracle.

"Oh my god. Someone go tell the nurse he's awake!" Paige yelled, before rushing to Marco's side. Craig rolled his eyes at her before walking over to Marco's bed and pressing the button for the nurse.

"What happened?" Marco asked, blinking his eyes a few times, squinting against the harshness of the light around him.

"You were in a coma," Dylan said softly, his eyes still unbelieving. He was afraid that if he blinked too many times, Marco would disappear.

"Oh," Marco said, before looking over at Paige and Ellie. After a moment, he looked back at Dylan. "Get out."

Paige's eyes went wide. "Marco—"

"Paige, he—"

Ellie interrupted him. "Marco, Dylan's been worried sick. He's the one that's sat next to you this whole time. He's barely left your side. He's been too afraid to. He pleaded with your uncle not to take you off of life support. He got in a fight with Paige because she was trying to throw a bit of reality at him. You can't just kick him out. He was afraid to lose you."

"He already lost me," Marco said coldly, looking away from the three. When Dylan reached toward his cheek, Marco smacked his hand away. "What part of 'get out' don't you understand, Dylan? I don't want you here, alright? Not now, not ever. Go back to Switzerland and live your perfect little hockey player life. I don't need you."

Dylan's face fell, and he looked down at the ground for a moment. He couldn't believe this was happening. After being worried sick for what felt like an eternity, after never leaving Marco's bed, this is what happened? He got a slap in the face and a 'sorry you're here, see you later, faggot'? No. He wouldn't accept that. He _couldn't_ accept that. Marco could be mad at him all he wanted, but Dylan wasn't going anywhere. Not anymore.

The blonde looked back up at the Italian, shaking his head. "No, Marco, I'm not leaving."

"Dylan–"

"No. Don't interrupt me." When Marco just crossed his arms, looking angry at the whole room, Dylan thought that it was okay to continue. "I love you. Okay? I'm sorry about the fight we had. I'm sorry that I'm an asshole. I'm sorry I said those things to you. I'm sorry you thought I was choosing hockey over you. Marco, I could _never_ choose anything over you. I could never put anything before you, Marco. Okay? You're my world. You're my everything. And next time I say you're a burden, feel free to drop a brick on my head to bring me back to my senses. Because, Marco, if I say that, then I'm obviously not in my right mind. You'll need to call the men in white jackets to take me away. You have no idea how important are you to me, do you? You're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. You're the one I want to marry and love and never, ever leave. And if you want me to stay in Toronto, then I'm going to stay. Because your happiness comes before everything. _Everything_, Marco. I love you so much. I've always loved you. Since the first moment I laid eyes on you I've loved you. I've always wanted to be with you. And I've made some mistakes, yeah, but I'm always going to make mistakes. You're going to make mistakes, too. But we have to forgive each other for those mistakes and go on loving each other. Because, Marco, without love, life doesn't mean a damn thing. And my life doesn't mean a damn thing without you in it." When Dylan noticed the tears in Marco's eyes, he felt a tug in his heart. "Marco?"

Marco quickly grabbed Dylan, pulling him in for a kiss. The other people in the room raised their eyebrows, and looked away as it seemed that the Italian had no intention of letting his love part from him any time soon. Not after that monologue. It was one of the sweetest things Dylan had ever said in his whole life. Like Marco could ignore that. Well… he could. But he didn't want to.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the two broke apart, both needing air. Dylan smiled softly at his young lover, brushing a hand across Marco's olive skin. "I love you so much, Marco. And you scared me. Don't ever do that to me again, okay?"

Marco nodded, and gave Dylan a soft smile back. "Okay." He looked around after a moment, frowning. "So, where's my ring?"

Paige laughed, reaching into her purse and handing it to him. Dylan watched in happiness and joy as Marco slipped the engagement ring back on his finger, grinning to himself. They were together again. They were finally together again. Nothing was ever going to tear them apart. Nothing was ever going to diminish their happiness.

"Oh, guys, did anyone find out if my parents are okay?"

Except maybe that.

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Dylan sighed as he looked up at the stairs from his spot on the couch. When Marco had suddenly blamed Dylan for his parents' death (um, why was it Dylan's fault, exactly?) and thrown the engagement ring at his head, Paige had suggested giving Marco some space until he had time to clear his head. But how much time was Dylan supposed to give him? It had been three days since Marco had been released from the hospital, and he had spent barely any of that time out of his room. He didn't eat, he didn't sleep, he didn't talk to anyone, he didn't do _anything_. Dylan was starting to worry. He knew that the grieving process took a little while, but he just wanted to wrap his arms around Marco and make him feel better. He wanted that _so_ bad.

"So, Marco hasn't come out of his room yet?" Jimmy asked as entered the living room from the front door, Spinner wheeling himself into the house.

Dylan shook his head, and the two other guys looked towards the stairs, where Marco could clearly be heard yelling at his dead parents, sobs causing his sentences to be chopped up in the slightest.

"I'll go talk to him," Spinner offered, heading towards the stairs. When Dylan didn't protest, he figured it was okay, and walked up the rest of the way.

Jimmy wheeled himself over to Dylan, looking worried as he glanced at the ceiling for a moment. "As he come down at all today?" Dylan shook his head, and Jimmy sighed. "I'm really worried about him. It's one thing for Marco to grieve, it's another for him not to let anyone in. I tried calling him last night, but he didn't let the conversation go past 'hi, what's up?' Dylan, Marco's the kind of guy who's in touch with his emotions. He talks to people. And to have him—" Suddenly the sound came of Marco yelling at Spinner to 'get the fuck out of his room' and a door slamming. "—completely throw Spinner out of his room isn't like him."

"I know. I'm worried too," Dylan said softly, looking down at his hands. "I love him, but I can't be there for him. He won't let me."

"Then think of something original. What makes him laugh no matter what? Even when he's pissed as hell and doesn't look like he'll be budging any time soon?"

Dylan thought for a moment, then smiled softly. "He loves it when I do Saved By The Bell impressions, along with the goofy faces. He thinks I'm really bad at them. He loves to laugh at me." The blonde sighed, shaking his head. "But he's not talking to me, remember?"

"We'll figure out something," Spinner said from behind, a small, mischievous smile on his face.

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"Hey, Marco! There's a guy downstairs that says he needs to talk to you about a bike you owned when you were five!" Spinner called through Marco's door, Dylan standing down the hallway in a shadow, against the wall. The blonde gave the younger boy a 'what the hell' expression before shaking his head, deciding to shut up.

The door opened slowly, and Marco raised an eyebrow at Spinner, the expression upon his face clearly stating that his friend was a lame loser, idiot. Yes, because you can be all three. At least in Spinner's case you can. "What?"

"A guy downstairs. Your bike. When you were five?" Spinner raised his eyebrows, trying to make this make a bit of sense.

"Spin, go away," Marco said, shaking his head, starting to close the door.

"Dude, think about it. This is a bike that you prized in your youth. A bike that your parents bought you. Something that they wanted for you to enjoy and cherish even in your old age. Why would you be so mean to just ignore that, especially now?"

Marco sighed and shook his head, leaving the room with Spinner. Dylan took his chance and slipped inside the room, making sure to stand somewhere where Marco wouldn't see him when he first walked back in. As predicted, Marco was back in less than a minute, muttering something about how 'stupid' and 'insensitive' Spinner was. Yeah, he was right.

Then Marco turned around to a surprise. Dylan acting like an idiot.

"I'm Muscle Screech from Muscle Beach, but starting tomorrow you can call me teach."

Marco raised his eyebrows, but couldn't help as the corners of his mouth started to twitch into a smile. "That's a good episode…" he said in a small voice, tears still flowing down his cheeks.

"Marco.." Dylan took a step over to the younger boy, taking his olive skinned hands into his own. "I'm sorry about your parents. But I didn't do it. I didn't cause their death. Why are you blaming me?"

"I… I don't know… It just seemed easier that way. I had already been mad at you. It wasn't hard to convert back to that state," Marco said softly, before walking over to his bed and sitting down.

Dylan sat down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay, baby. I promise you, it's going to be okay."

"I know," Marco whispered, looking up at Dylan. "As long as I'm with you, it always will be."

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Wow, that ending **sucked**! Probably because I took time to read that 'Saved by the Bell Quote of the Day' blog thing to find a reasonable quote for Dylan. Yeah, actually, it was pretty amusing. The guy writing the blog is freakin' _**hilarious**_! Love him. Seriously. Haha.

Oh! Um, **Which Way Now?** will begin as soon as **Catch Me** has 130 reviews. Sorry, I need my ten per chapter. Call me obsessive compulsive if you wish, I'd agree with you. But I love you bitchezzz, really. And I **really** want to start the sequel to this story (as I'm sure you guys want me to start it, too) I just need my ten per. So send a whole crap load of anonymous reviews if you must. That's what I would do. Haha.

Love ya! And thanks for readin:)


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